East to West
by ShyTales
Summary: A story about a girl and her friends whose world was flipped around by the discovery of storybook creatures. Follow this girl across America, from east to west, and back again. Watch as she falls in and out of love and who betrays her. My first story. Read and Review? Thanks.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's notes: Hey, guys. This is my first story. I wrote this a few years ago. I know it's pathetic, but please review. Thanks!**

PROLOGUE:

_What happens when things you've always known in fairytales suddenly comes true? What happens when fairies become regulars at your mall? And vampires went to your school? Or witches and wizards are going into business by changing peoples lives if they ask for it? Well, it becomes a scary place. My life was fine, almost perfect, before these  
>Creatures came. I use a capital C in Creatures because they use it themselves. So last year, December 17, the port hole connecting our world to their world opened. Only a couple thousand Creatures came out. That's not a lot if you include the 2 billion people in the United States. But then, they all moved to the U.S. because it's the New World or the Western Civilization. All the witches and wizards and vampires and werewolves were on the East coast because they like the<br>change of seasons. All the creepy Creatures lived on the West coast because they liked the warmer weather.  
><em>

So, my life before this happened...  
>I was just a regular 17 year old girl who went to school with her friends. I'm taller than a normal girl- 6 feet tall. I have blue eyes and blonde hair. I have glasses. My friends were my friends back then and my sister was my best friend and still is. We get along great.<p>

Okay, so, once they came here, no one knew what to make of it really. We kind of shunned them like how we are with criminals, except some were friendly and blended in well. Others were always trying to put a spell on you or bite you or just all together try to kill you. It's a dangerous world to live in. In school, instead of Home Economics they had Training. Training is for the people who don't feel too safe with all the extra danger. I just took the class, because it was easy. I didn't really know I would need it later. Some of my best friends are the Creatures that came. Gloria is my werewolf friend, Bon is my vampire friend, and James is my wizard friend.

I met Gloria when I was walking home from school. She tried to get me to go to her house with her. The thing is, I actually have a bit of common sense. So naturally, with my common sense in hand, I said sure. (Note the sarcasm). That's how we got to know each other. She tried to wrestle me to the ground and eat me alive. She is only a baby compared to every other werewolf that is her age (she matured much more slowly than everyone else.) Since I'm pretty strong, I pinned her to the ground and she stopped struggling.  
>"What did you do that for?" I asked stupidly.<br>"Well, I'm a werewolf. It's what I do," she said with me still pinning her down.  
>"Didn't you ever notice there are other things to eat then humans?"<br>"I need to eat a human to prove my worth to my old folks. I'm still too little, though."

"You are." I said getting off her and giving my hand to help her up. She agreed not to try to eat anyone until she had grown a lot more, but no promises. We became friends after that. Oh and she has long brown hair (she only has hair on the top of her head, not every where on her) and brown eyes. She is a few inches shorter than me.

I met Bon in almost the same way, but instead of him asking me to go to his house, he asked me out. And so, I went out with him. He was cute enough. Slick black hair and green eyes, he is an inch taller than me. We went to the movies to see a vampire horror movie. I am completely terrified of horror movies. I don't know why I agreed to it. The whole time the movie was playing, I had my eyes wide open, because I couldn't shut them and I heard him laughing next to me at the way the movie people think they got the image down for a real vampire. (This was a whole month before people knew vampires had come out of the port hole.) Afterward I asked him why he was laughing. He ignored the question and said to follow him. I said okay, but not somewhere dark. When we got to his secret place, it was dark, it was scary and, I screamed my head off when he tried to bite my neck. Loud noises, like screams, hurt his ears so he totally backed off while holding his ears.

"Cut it out," he yelled so I would hear him above my screaming. (My screams are like those classic horror movie screams you hear in movies, but louder. I don't know why.)  
>"Don't bite me and I will, but if you try it again I will scream." I said calmly, even though I almost got bitten by a vampire.<br>"Okay, okay. Just don't scream again. Gosh, now I've got a head ache," he said holding his head.  
>"I'm sorry, but I didn't know and I was scared."<br>"No, I'm sorry I tried to bite you. You just look so good. I can't tell which feeling I'm feeling. Either, I'm hungry, but I just ate, or it's just a tingling feeling that-"  
>"You're not hungry. You're just nervous. Everyone gets that feeling when they're nervous about something. We call it Butterflies. We say, 'I've got Butterflies in my stomach.'"<br>"Oh." he said deep in thought.  
>"Well, I have to go home now. It's getting late." I started to walk away, but I ran into him. He moved from behind me to in front of me really fast. When I bumped into him, he hugged me and said thanks. Then he was gone. Now we are girlfriend and boyfriend, but he doesn't get that concept. "Why 'date' when you can get married?" he says.<br>"We aren't old enough." I always say, "It's not our custom to get married at the age of 17."


	2. Chapter 2

James is a friend of Bon's. He helps Bon to eat animals or drink their blood, instead of human blood. James was the one to suggest that Bon should get a girlfriend so he could learn how nice the humans are. James became my friend after Bon told him how his night was and said I needed to meet James. James told me himself that he was a wizard. He told me he picked me out because he thought I was pretty enough.  
>"Excuse me? Picked me out? What am I, a shirt that can be worn and then thrown out? Is that what you think of me, Bon? A shirt!" I said, angry that I was being used.<br>"No. Nothing like that. Uh- I really do like you. James's just jealous of me."  
>"Am not!" James yelled from in the kitchen where he was getting drinks.<br>"Whatever." I said still annoyed.  
>Bon whispered to me, "He is always like this. It's just the way he is. And by the way he really does think you are pretty. Why would he have chosen you out of the whole school?"<br>I wasn't keen on believing him too much, but just enough to know James was a sweet guy.

Weeks passed and I didn't tell anyone that I had friends who were Creatures. My mom thought I was hiding something but my dad told her to lay off. My sister didn't care, because I told her I would tell her everything. Then the news about vampires came out and more than 100 vampires were at our school. Bon was one of the ones who were discovered. Now my secret was out. I'm the girlfriend of a vampire. Some of my normal friends aren't my friends now, but two stayed with me. Their names are Lona and Pam. Lona has been my friend since pre-school. She is 17, like me. Pam became my friend 3 years ago. She is Val's friend that I made friends with, so she is 19 years old. Lona has long brown hair and brown eyes. Pam has either really light orange hair with a bit of brown or really light brown with a bit of orange. Gloria knew these friends and was well liked by them. Finally, my sister, Val, found out. She was really excited; because she always loved studying Creatures, even before we found out they actually existed. She met Gloria first. Val felt like she could have died right there and then. Next she met Bon which turned out great. Bon showed off his teeth for her. Yes, he does have fangs. (Which don't get in the way when we kiss). Next was James. She fell in love with him. I have to say, Val is the smartest person I know but she had to fall in love with James? Like really?

So, now, that's my life. We had no idea something dangerous was about to happen. We only knew that this type of happiness couldn't last forever.

The government passed a law saying that the Creatures couldn't breed with humans. Then another law saying they could only hunt in the mountains and if they hunted a human they will be caught and killed. The next law said Creatures could not be near humans at all since the Creatures in the West coast couldn't control themselves.

Can you imagine not being able to see someone who you truly loved ever again? Even if it was one of your family members? Imagine that, and then think of how others feel about your loved one. The one who was taken away is shunned.

I could not visit Bon because of the law and my parents said I couldn't. Bon, James, and Gloria all went into hiding. Lona and Pam were the only people me and Val could talk to. Other people would part around anyone in the hall at school who had anything to do with the Creatures. Secretly, Val and I crept out at night to be with Bon and James. Bon and I would hide in our shed while Val and James hid somewhere.

"Bon I'm so scared you might be caught." I said hugging him.  
>"I'll never be caught. I promise you. I can't stop thinking about you. I have nothing else to think of. My parents are constantly moving. They disowned me because I keep coming back to you."<br>"That's horrible, Bon. Why can't you just leave me? Go with your parents. It's ok. I'll be fine." I said trying to convince myself. He kissed me.  
>"Never. For as long as I live, which might not be as long as I hoped it would be, I will stay with you." He said devotedly.<br>"Let me run away with you. We can be together forever. I'll let you bite me. Please."  
>"No! I won't let you live like me!"<br>"Then I'll become a witch and then I'll have to live like you. I'll go everywhere you-" He cut me off with a long kiss which would have lasted longer if there wasn't a knock on the shed door.  
>"Nicki," yeah, that's my name, "We've got to go now." It was Val. Ugh.<br>"Hold on. Give me five minutes." I said.  
>"Fine." I heard her walk away.<br>"Look, Bon, I love you. Don't get caught. Don't die and don't stop loving me." I said quickly wiping away my tears. There was no answer. I looked up and saw he had looked away.  
>"Your sister is coming back. I've got to go, too." He gave me a<br>lingering kiss and a big hug and he left. Val came in just seconds later. We snuck back inside and into our beds. I had the feeling Bon wasn't telling me everything he knew on the war between us and the Creatures. Right now it was only a verbal war, but soon it was going to get ugly.  
>"Did James tell you anything about the war?" I whispered to Val. We shared a room.<br>"They were going to attack tonight. All the Creatures gathered in Philadelphia. Even the ones from the West coast came over here. I don't know what will happen." Val said in a monotone. She was scared and worried.


	3. Chapter 3

In two days, Gloria came to see us.  
>"The attack went well. We need more witches and wizards for their magic. There will be another attack in two weeks. Nothing has happened to Bon or James. Don't worry. I've got an eye on them."<br>Three days passed. We didn't know what to do. We met Pam and Lona at Pam's house. Her parents are all for the Creatures to win their freedom. People did have to be nosy and bring them here, so why not be nice?  
>"Can we do anything to help?" Lona asked.<br>Pam and Val shook their heads, but I nodded.  
>"Yes, we can. Val, remember Gloria said they needed more witches and wizards? Well, why can't we become witches secretly? We can meet here and no one will find out." Everyone was looking excited, but Val, being the smart one who thought things through, asked who would help us.<br>"James can help us. He must have witch friends that he trusts. You can ask him tomorrow, Val, when we meet them."  
>We all agreed this was perfect. We were devoted to this cause and no one could change our minds. Bon couldn't change mine when he tried to unconvinced me the next night.<p>

"You can't join in! You aren't capable of helping us. I told James going out with you was a bad idea."  
>"So it was a set up all along. Just break up with me and go. You don't really love me. All you cared about was yourself and your stupid control issues!" I yelled at him. He flinched.<br>"If it will keep you safe, I'm breaking up with you. You're right. I never loved you. It was because of my stupid control issues." He said mocking me. I was so angry that I punched him the stomach and in the face. He pushed me so hard (vampire strength) that I hit the wall and slid to the floor with the wind knocked out of me. He bent over me and slowly went for my throat. Just then, James came banging in with Val right behind him. James tore Bon off of me and flung him outside.  
>"I give you my permission to go on with your plan. Tomorrow someone will go to Pam's house." James said. He kissed Val and ran after Bon who was running away.<p>

I was crying by that time. Val hugged me until I stopped. We went inside again and to bed. I had the strangest dream. The witch we were supposed to meet was saying a prophecy about four witches. I don't know why she was reading it to us but then she changed into Bon who was going to tear my throat out. Then Bon changed into James who said, "Tomorrow someone will go to Pam's house." I woke up then. It was 11 a.m. I got a shower and got dressed. Val was already awake. Val and I walked over to Pam's house after we picked up Lona.  
>"Okay, girls. Upstairs is the witch we need to see. Follow me." Pam said. We followed her upstairs into her attic.<p>

The witch was sitting Indian style on a rug that must have been hers. There was a fire in front of her that must have been magic, because it was floating and it didn't make the room hot.  
>"Come in and sit down around the fire, ladies." The witch said. After a better look, the witch was around 30 years old and she had a clear voice.<br>"I understand you want to be witches yourselves. It won't be easy teaching you all you need to learn, but first I need to tell you of a prophecy. It is this: ecaep ekam llahs yeht dna. tsom ot detoved era yeht tahw evas llahs yeht. hcae ot eno. htrae dna, ria, retaw, erif. scigam ruof eht thguat eb lliw yeht. sehctiw emoceb llahs ruof. hctiw a kees llahs ruof."  
>All of us were asked, "What," except Val.<br>"It's backwards and the sentences are backwards as well. It really says: Four shall seek a witch. Four shall become witches. They will be taught the four magics. Fire, water, air, and earth. One to each. They shall save what they are devoted to most. And they shall make peace."  
>"Very good, Val. You shall be first to look into the fire and see what magic you shall learn."<p>

So, Val leaned closer to the fire. She was an inch away when there was water coming out of the mouth and nose. I started freak out, but the witch shook her head. When Val finally leaned back she said, "Water."  
>The witch said it was my turn next. I took a deep breath and leaned in close like Val. I saw fire destroying a village, then the picture changed. I saw people cooking over a fire. I felt the fire in my veins. It was moving to my head. Then it poured out nose and mouth like lava. I leaned back and said, "Fire." Pam was next. After she leaned forward mud started coming out of her nose and mouth. She leaned back and said, "Earth." Lona leaned forward and a gust of wind came out of her nose and mouth. She leaned back and said, "Air."<p>

Once that was determined, the witch said, "You now know your talents. Watch out. You don't know how to use them yet. But you do have the power in you now."  
>"But I don't feel any different. I mean I'm still myself, at least." Lona said.<br>"Once you have been trained, you will feel the power rushing through your veins," the witch said.  
>"This has been bugging, what's your name?" I said rather bluntly. Val glared at me.<br>"I'm sorry, I didn't make proper introductions. I'm Redd. James said you girls were of prophecy material. I just had to see who you were." she said.  
>"Okay. You know, you could go for a new outfit." Pam said. She was always the one who loved trying on clothes in a store.<br>"Do you think? I don't know what witches wear in this world." Redd said.  
>"First of all, there were none before we discovered you. And secondly, if you wore normal clothes people wouldn't have suspected you of being a witch." I said bluntly again. I hated lying, but the truth hurts, too, sometimes.<br>Redd sighed, "I know. Well, let's go shopping tomorrow, then. After you guys go to school, of course."

So, we became friends after that. Monday, after school, we went shopping with Redd. She seemed to like clothes just as much as Pam. They bought a whole wardrobe for her. (Pam is rich.) After that, Redd taught us how to use our powers. For water, Val needed to use fluid movements. For earth, Pam needed to use jerky movements. For air, Lona had to use fast movements. For fire, I had to keep moving no matter what.

We also learned other thing used in witchery, like spells and amulets and poison sewing. Pam loved the poison sewing. She just couldn't wear the clothes she made. Lona loved charming the amulets so they would do different things. Val and I liked working on spells. We learned a lot in the following week.

One day, I made a fire dome around myself. The fire dome was invisible, so no one saw a flaming dome on the ground and it also turned me invisible. Or so I thought. Someone was coming towards my dome. Then they just walked through the flaming side and walked up to me. It was the last person I wanted to see, Bon. So, naturally, the first thing I do is lunge at his throat. He didn't try to stop me. One thing I wouldn't want to do is strangle someone to death, so I just took my hands away and lay down on the grass with my hands behind my head.

He asked, "May I join you?" I grunted. He lay down with me and stayed there.  
>"What do you want?"<br>"To say I'm sorry for what I almost did and have done."  
>"Yeah, well, I'm not forgiving you. You lied to me, you said you didn't know what dating was, but you did; you told me you didn't love me, which I assume was not correct, and-and you're just a lie yourself. You said you wouldn't come back, but, unfortunately, you did." I said out of breath.<br>"One: James explained in more detail what dating was. Two: that was to keep you safe. I didn't want you to get hurt, so I said I didn't love you. Three: I came back to check on you."  
>"When you tried not to hurt me, you hurt me. It was deeper than a cut. You know where it hurt? My heart!" I yelled sitting up. He sat up too, but I wasn't finished, "And then you just run away like everything is okay. How could you? I loved you..." I was crying silently. He hugged me and kissed me even though I backed away. His Speed was really fast. I knew he was trying to force me back to him by showing how much he loved me but I wasn't going to give in...<p>

"I'm sorry I yelled at you." I said as I gave in.  
>"I'm sorry I ran away." He said.<br>"Why are you here, though?"  
>"To bring news. Gloria couldn't come to see you because she is in hiding," I gave him a look that said, 'What about you?' but he just kept talking," and I couldn't stay away from you. And I came to check if you are- um - doing well with your new power." He looked up over our heads at the dome.<br>"Did it make me invisible? I can't tell because I'm on the inside."  
>"Yes. It did make you invisible it's just that I can see through<br>things like that."  
>"That makes me feel loads better. Vampires can see through my best defenses. I have to think up a spell now..." I said deep in thought.<br>"We have to go."  
>"Why?"<br>"The oxygen in this bubble is low. You might pass out." He looked concerned enough. I made the dome disappear with a twist of my wrist. We walked back to Pam's house to see what everyone else was doing. When we were inside, I saw they were working on a puzzle. Val kept putting down pieces one after the other but Pam and Lona were just  
>staring at it trying to think of a way the piece would fit. James was next to Val with his left arm wrapped around her stomach and his head on her right shoulder.<p> 


	4. Chapter 4

I thought about saying for them to get a room but I decided to say, "Why are all of you working on this... With the exception of James?"

"Redd told us to try it out. She knew Val would get everything in about a minute so she divided us up into groups. You have your own place, too." Lona said pointing over to an empty chair and a table top full of puzzle pieces. I am not like Val at all except that we are sisters that are 11 months apart from each other. I'm smart, but not as smart as Val. But when it comes to puzzles, I'm second best at it. You give me two minutes then come back and you'll see I finished the puzzle by then. Val only needs a minute. Pam finished it in 5 minutes and Lona finished in 7 minutes.

"That's a record for me," Lona said.  
>"Same here," Pam said happily.<br>"I could have finished sooner if only..." Val was saying to herself.  
>"What I want to know is why we had to do this puzzle, Redd?" I asked.<br>Redd was hiding in the shadows waiting for someone to find her. She walked forward.  
>"Oh it's easy to see, isn't it? She wants to teach us patience." Lona said like she thought everyone knew.<br>"Lona, you show signs of a real teller. You can see past what other people might think is a burden or very troubling. Val." Redd said looking at Val since Val was still contemplating what she might have been able to do faster.  
>"Yes, I'm sorry. I can't help it. I know I can do better. I like to challenge myself."<br>"That's why you are the brains of this group. Lona is the Teller. She will be able to tell you some parts of your future and lead you- like me. Pam is the bravest. She will stand up for you guys and keep you cheerful on your journey. And Nicki is the power. She will remind all of you what you chose to be when all hope seems lost." Redd just made a huge prediction. It was a lot to live up to, especially if you didn't even know what you were supposed to do.  
>"So, what does this tell us? That we have to travel? And do what? We are just kids." I said hoping somehow magic could give me a license so I would be able to drive.<p>

In Pam's driveway was a BMW convertible sports car. It had a backseat even though it was a two seat car. The front and backseats were expanded by magic so more people could fit. From the outside, it looked like a two seated vehicle. I started freaking out. I get to drive a sports car! Wait until I tell Bon! I thought to myself.  
>"But what about my license?" I asked excitedly.<br>"Check in your pocket. You each have a leather wallet. They contain your licenses and 500 dollars in cash each. Pam, you have a credit card for only your most desperate times of need. In the car, if you look in the glove compartment, you'll see there are four passports. Good luck. Lona will Tell you what you must do to help our kind. We are Creatures now. Be careful." Redd gave each of us a hug and then she just disappeared. We all stood there stunned. The information was being forced upon us like there was no tomorrow. Then Lona started shaking. She was trembling so much that she almost fell. I, being the strongest, caught her before she could fall. Then, she started to speak in a deep, grave voice that was only an echo of her own, "You will travel around the Western Civilization and bring Creatures hope to rebel against the humans. You will go to Miami, Florida- Jackson, Mississippi- Oklahoma City, Oklahoma- Salem, Oregon- then back to Philadelphia. Be aware and alert."

Lona stopped and looked at us. She asked why we staring, like nothing happened at all. We told her she made a prediction of what we were supposed to do. Val had all the places stored in her enormous brain and she had already figured out how we were going to get to Florida.  
>"We will take a boat to Florida. A boat that will store our car. Then drive to Miami. It will only be about 600 bucks for the ride to Florida if we mention Pam's father." Val said.<br>"First of all, it's getting late. We should hide the car with a spell, (Val was doing that already), and sleep over here. Agreed? Tomorrow, I will drive Lona to your house so you can pack the clothes you need. We have a long day tomorrow so let's go to bed." I said exhausted from all the surprises that seemed to keep coming.

Val and I were sleeping in the attic and Pam and Lona slept in Pam's room. I had another strange dream. First I was driving the new car by myself, the way I always dreamed of. Me with one hand on the wheel and one hand behind the passengers head rest. I had let down my long blonde hair and I had dark shaded sunglasses on. I was jamming to my  
>favorite music, Katrina and the Waves, Fleetwood Mac, and Rush, to name a few bands. Then Bon appeared next to me. He was like me, wearing sunglasses and all. We were speeding down a highway that was really curvy (but smooth curves) and seemed like it would go on forever. Then the car started shaking somehow. Bon turned into a Creature I'd never seen before. The weather changed from sunny to rainy in an instant. Then I woke up with water being splashed in my face and someone shaking me.<br>"Nicki! Nicki! Wake up!" Val said.  
>"I am awake, you butt." I grumbled. It was the best dream I've had in a long time.<br>"We have to go. It's time. We wait any longer, we will miss our boat." Pam said worriedly. I got dressed quickly. We all hopped into the car (YES!) and drove off to Lona's house. I was actually really good at driving. At the beginning I kept jerking the car to a stop a few times, but Val told me to relax so I did and I was gliding down the street. Next was our house. We wrote a note to our parents that we were staying at Pam's house for the next week, because I had a major test coming up (which was true) and Val just wanted to stay over. We grabbed duffel bags and stuffed all the clothes we could carry with a few books by Dean Koontz and, of course, The Harry Potter series! Then we were off again.

I knew how to get to the highway from all the trips we took for school in Philly. The road was all mine, except for the occasional Mac truck and police officer. The speed limit was 70 miles per hour. I was tearing up the road like no tomorrow. The wind was blowing through all of our hair. Val was sitting next to me with Pam and Lona in the back  
>laughing at something. Our exit came and I pulled off the highway. We were in Philadelphia. We needed to cross the city's slow moving traffic between the very tall buildings. We finally made it to the dock by 1 o'clock. We parked on the boat and got out to stretch. We stopped by McDonald's before coming here. We got back in and put up the top of the car for privacy.<p>

"That was some wicked driving, Nicki," Lona said.  
>"Yeah, well, I learned from seeing other people drive. Look, I have to use the restroom. Be right back." I said. I walked into the bathroom. It was a single room not like a public one at amusement parks. I stood there thinking. Why do we have to do this? Why not anyone else? Then there was a slight breeze. I looked around and saw Bon.<br>"How did you-? What?" I asked astounded to see him there.  
>"I had to see before you left, even if it was in a bathroom. Look, you really shouldn't be doing this. We can handle it by ourselves. You could have-"<br>I cut him off. "Yes, WE can handle it. I'm a Creature now, too. I'm a witch now. And I don't need you to tell me what to do with my life, kid. I want to do this! This is what the four of us want to do."  
>"I'm not telling you what to do, I'm just saying what I think is right. If you won't listen to me then take this." He showed me a necklace. It had a ruby as the main jewel. "It was my grandmothers. She was a witch. It's a long story that I will save for later."<br>"Thanks. What does it do?" I asked.  
>"I don't know. I'm not a witch or wizard."<br>"But you are part wizard if you grandmother was a witch."  
>"Then I'm not wizard enough to activate its powers. But you're witch enough. Take it and have a fun trip." He said. He put it around my neck. I gave him a kiss good-bye and he left. I hid the necklace under my shirt. I'd tell the girls later. <p>


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: I actually have no designated chapters. I wrote the story in full, without wanting there to be any type of chapter, but FictionPress asks for chapters. I randomly broke the story up. Aaaaand I have no beta, so ignore any and all spelling errors. Thanks.**

I returned to the car. I couldn't follow their conversation. I was very distracted. Why did Bon keep reappearing? Does he really care about me? What about James? Has he been seeing Val? I couldn't answer these questions. They were kind of nosy, but I'm curious. But then, curiosity killed the cat. Why was the cat killed? Surely a feeling can't kill. The feeling of discovery and what makes us do things is part curiosity. Without it, we wouldn't do anything to move us into the future. The future...? What are we going to find in Miami? More Creatures vacationing from Canada? That's funny. These were my thoughts before Pam asked me a question three times before I could answer.  
>"Sorry. What?" I said again, finally coming back from my thoughts.<br>"Earth to space cadet Nicki. We need you to come BACK!" Val shouted the last word. Thank goodness the top was closed. The people next to us looked over.  
>"Alright, what do you want?" I said getting a bit mad. What could be so important?<br>"Well, while you were- um- 'gone' Lona had another prediction." Val said "gone" sarcastically.  
>"What do you mean 'gone'. I was only going to the bathroom! You guys don't trust me now? What are you trying to say?" I said trying not to yell now.<br>"She predicted someone with the power of fire will betray us. How do you think we feel about that?" Val said.  
>"How could you think that when I've been with you the whole time? Maybe if I didn't go to the bathroom, I wouldn't be accused of being a traitor! I only saw Bon because he just appeared there! He gave me his grandmothers necklace. How did I betray you? What made you think I would even try? Wasn't it my idea to become witches? We've been friends since pre-school. Val we are the best sisters. Everyone sees us happy together, ask anyone." They all looked away. "I'm going to take a walk. Have fun with me gone, again." I climbed out of the car, slammed the door, and walked away.<br>"Wait!" Lona climbed out and ran after me.  
>"What?" I said almost yelling.<br>"I had no idea. I'm so sorry. If I could help it, then I wouldn't have said anything. I believe you, of course. I can't doubt my friend. My best friend." She walked past me when I stopped dead. We were at the side of the boat watching the sun go down.

"I believe you, Lona. I can't believe they would think I could or-or would do th-that." I know it was kind of weird, but I was crying. Almost everyone says crying is a sign of weakness, but to me it's a sign of relief. You are relieving yourself of a burden. Letting your feelings flow. Relief.  
>"It's okay." Lona was rubbing my back awkwardly. "We all still love you. The information was forced on us. We all are stressed. Come back with me. It's getting late." She grabbed my hand and led me back to the car. We didn't say anything to each other for about an hour.<br>Then Val said quietly, "We're sorry." and we went to sleep.

The next day, we didn't really go anywhere. We still had another day to go. We walked around and sat. When we were all together again (we avoided each other) we were in the car reading my books.  
>Pam started the conversation, "What does the necklace do?"<br>"I don't really know. Bon has a bit of wizard in him. His grandmother was a witch. I think you need to be a witch to actually make it work."  
>"Didn't it work for him?" Val said smiling. She was joking.<br>"He isn't a girl." I laughed, "But that's good. Pam why don't you try it on?" I handed it to her. She put it on. Pam started glowing right before our eyes.

"Looks like Bon's grandma liked charming amulets as well. That's really cool." I said smiling crazily, I thought. They might've thought I was just happy. I was, but that was Bons' grandmothers. He gave it to me. And to be honest I love the color red. All my t-shirts are for the Phillies. My nails always get painted red when I allow my friends to do them. I know, I'm being selfish, but you can let a little jealousy take over. Forget it, I thought to myself, nothing good will come out of it if you make an argument. I said I wanted to take a walk. They looked at me expecting me to explain myself.  
>"I've been cramped up in here for at least an hour. I need to stretch my legs. If you don't believe me one of you can come, you know." I said rolling my eyes at them. Pam got out of the car and came with me. We walked for a few minutes. Anywhere and everywhere.<p>

Then Pam spoke up, "I'm sorry for taking this. I saw your face. I'm really perceptive, you know. Well, of course you know. I would give it back, but I can't take it off."  
>"What! Why?" I asked. Was Bon trying to stop me? What does that necklace actually do?<br>"I can't take it off. It changed, too. It's now a choker with a blue kind of diamond thing for the main gem. I can't hide it under my shirt and some older boys are looking at me weirdly because of it. Like twenty years old, Nicki." She added because of the questioning face I gave her. At least it wasn't old, old men.  
>"From now on, I want you to carry this knife. Put it in your pocket. And I want you to have me at your side at all times." I handed her a pocket knife (I have three more [just in case]) and we walked back to the car. It was two hours before lunch, but we were hungry anyway, so we went to the cafeteria and ate there. Pam pointed out the boys who kept looking. I looked over at them. Tall, built, 19 year old boy and one small 20 year old boy. Oh, that's nothing. I said to myself. I could beat them up any day. I kept eating. I didn't know that day was today or just a few hours after we were done eating.<p>

Pam and I wanted to tan a bit so we went on deck of the boat with a few chairs. Really, we wanted to talk. We sat down, but stood up almost right away because the guys were behind us.  
>"Hey, cutie." One of them said. He was the 20 year old. He was as tall as me, but definitely not stronger. He was thin and lanky.<br>"We just want a nice talk." Another said. He was the 19 year old. They were focused on me because we finally pried the thing off Pam and I was wearing it with the same blue jewel. I didn't want to put Pam in danger. Thank gosh I took it.  
>"What do you want?" I said calmly. I shooed Pam away. She ran to our car.<br>"I just want to talk." Another said. The one I named One-of-them went the opposite direction of Pam. Good.  
>"About what, punk." I said. I didn't know what he had, except really huge muscles.<br>"Walk with me." He grabbed me and pulled me to the side of the boat away from everyone.  
>"So?" I said impatiently.<br>"You got some spunk, kid. I like that in a girl. We should-"  
>"There will be no 'we', got it? Now what do you want?" I asked annoyed now. I was really itching to tell him I had a boyfriend that would whoop his butt, but I couldn't.<br>"I want you." He looked at me. His eyes were red and he had red hair, but he was kind of... kind of handsome. Kind of hot. He was tanned and had muscles and handsome and had muscles and tanned. Wait! No I can't!  
>I said something intelligent like, "No! Huurh sut." I meant to say 'No! Get away!' but of course not.<br>He laughed softly. It sounded like tinkling bells. Bells? No one sounded like that except in books. What is he? Think, think you nerd. I strained myself to try to remember.  
>"Let's go, girly. Oh and the name is Mick." He picked me up like a baby, one arm around my back and one around my bent knees. "If you struggle..." He left the threat unfinished. That's always bad.<p>

He took me back to his car. A Ferrari. So cool, but so not cool! No one was in it but us now.  
>"I am not asking again, so would you get on with it." If he comes at me I have a knife in my pocket.<br>"I want that necklace of yours. It contains magical power you know nothing about." How did he know?  
>"Don't you know it's fake? I bought it at the dollar store." I lied smoothly. I'm good at it.<br>"Don't lie to me, Nicole Prentue. I know what you are and what your friends are. Hand it over now." He put his hand out. I can't believe what I'm about to do, I thought. I grabbed his hand and pulled him close. Then I kissed him.  
>Think of your favorite candy, thing to do, and place. Cram that all together and that's what I got with this kiss.<br>Oh my gosh, this is wow! I pulled away. His eyes started glowing…


	6. Chapter 6

**Author's note: I know this is really bad, but please, bear with me.**

"How did you know...?" He asked putting his hands to his eyes.  
>"Know what?" I asked apprehensively. A fairy! It just hit me. He's a fairy!<br>"When we get kissed by a mortal we become one, too." He whispered. I strained to hear him.  
>"I'm not mortal. I'm a witch." I said.<br>"No matter what you think you are, you are still part mortal because you were born that way." He said. He looked at me again. His eye color had changed. They were blue now. And his hair, it was brown now. Wh-what happens now? I asked myself. If it is what I think it is...  
>"I'm stuck with you." He said. Yep, it is what I thought.<br>"I have a boyfriend already. You can't be stuck with me. Look, I have to go." I got out of that car and ran back to mine. I told them what happened.  
>"That's bad. He's going to be following us through our whole journey." Val said. At least she wasn't accusing me of anything.<br>"I shouldn't have let you take it from me. But then I would have stabbed him instead of kissed him." Pam said.  
>"Well, we could change that. He is a fairy. Once they are kissed they follow you. If they are kissed by another person, then they follow that person. You need to wait 12 hours before they won't go to someone else." Val said. Nerd, I thought to myself.<br>"I'll take him." Pam said quickly, "I started this and I'll end it."  
>"Just keep him occupied until 12 a.m." Val said. It was 12 p.m.<br>"Got it. See you later." Pam said. She got out of the car and walked off.  
>"Hope she doesn't get into any trouble." Lona said.<br>"Don't worry. I gave her a pocket knife." I said. They both stared at me. "Just in case. You guys should carry them, too." I gave both of them one. No extras now.

12 hours later, Pam came back exhausted. She plopped down into her seat. Val and I looked back at her and Lona looked over at her.  
>"So?" Val asked. Pam blushed deeply. Her whole face was red like a tomato.<br>"Well, it was a fun day." She said quietly.  
>"They made out the whole time." Lona said. "I can make small predictions. That one was easy to guess, though."<br>"Okay. We won't question you." I said and turned around, but turned right back when Pam exploded.  
>"We kissed in his car the whole time! He is so HOT!" We all looked away embarrassed.<br>"That's nice to know, Pam. Nice to know." I said shakily. He could have been mine. I am so selfish.  
>"Let's all go to bed. Just think, tomorrow we will be in Florida." Lona said happily.<p>

I had the worst night ever. I couldn't get comfortable in my seat. When I did get to sleep, I had a really different dream. I was walking with Bon. He kept saying the dream was real, but I didn't or couldn't believe him. He took me to some place. I hadn't seen it before. It was beautiful though. There were flowers everywhere and exotic animals. He led me to the beach. It was dusk so we could see the sun setting together. We sat down.  
>"There will be danger. You have to watch out for another witch or wizard. You heard Lona. Heed her prediction. Many will come later, but this one will either tear you girls apart or make you stronger. I want to help, but I'm needed elsewhere. Please be careful. I live for you." He looked me in the face. There was some kind of knowing deep down inside those eyes. Then he said he lost our connection. He faded and so did the dream. Then I went to a place that looked like Miami. There was this guy there. He said he called me and he was sorry for interrupting my other connection.<p>

"I really am sorry, but I had to make sure when you were coming." He said.  
>"Who-?" I asked.<br>"Oh, sorry. My name is Pete. Now, when are you coming?" He said. He had brown hair and brown eyes. He was good looking. Lona would love him except she liked shorter guys. We all know each others tastes.  
>"Tomorrow. By dinner we should be there." I said quickly. The moment seemed urgent.<br>"Drat! There will be a battle where you're getting off. I could come and fetch you myself, but I'm a leader." He seemed to be talking to himself. "Okay, okay. I'll come and get you. Don't leave the pier. When you get there, stay where you park. I have to go. Good-bye. Oh and watch out for that guy you were talking to. Once a Creature, always a Creature." Everything disappeared again. I was shaken awake yet again, but this time by Lona.  
>"We couldn't find you... Should have told us..." Lona was saying. I wasn't fully awake.<br>"What are you talking about? I was here the whole time. I was sleeping." I said.  
>"You weren't lying in this seat just a minute ago!" Pam said coming onto view.<br>"I was dreaming about going to a beach with Bon then going to a beach with this kid called Pete." I said trying to clear things up.  
>"I read about that. People can connect and talk to each other through dreams from long distances. We can do it ourselves, but we are right here." Val said defending me. I gave her a grateful look.<br>"I did that once." It was Mick.  
>I looked away. "Go away, Mick."<br>"Don't be sour, Nicki. Hey, babe." Pam said giving him a quick kiss. She scooted over in the back to make room for him.  
>"Don't let him- ugh. I don't want fairy in my car!" I said angrily.<br>"Who said it was your car? Anyway, he's going to have to follow me everywhere I go, so why not?" Pam said.  
>"Whatever." I said. "No making out in front of all us lonely girls." Now they knew I was joking.<br>"Plus my buddies ditched me and took the car. I loved that car." He said.  
>"So we are stuck with you, almost to Florida, and not going anywhere after because we don't know where to go." Val said. I just remembered my dreams. I told all of them the weird dreams I have been having. They all sat there thinking about my dreams. Was Pete a wizard? Is he the one who will betray us? I thought so. Why would he help the Creatures if he wasn't one? Even Pam's parents can't really do anything even though they are all for Creatures. Before I could think anything else, I fell asleep. It was 1 in the morning and I was tired.<p> 


	7. Chapter 7

The next day, I woke up around 12 in the afternoon. There wasn't much to do except wait until we reached Florida. We sat around and read and talked and did nothing and sat around. The captain said we would reach the dock at 5 p.m. That's a long time from 2. I was so bored! I mean, I couldn't read, or start a conversation. Usually when I'm like this, I always have a song playing in my head. The song goes with my thoughts and feelings at the time. The song now was: My Own Worst Enemy. I was downing myself. So I was listening to the song in my head. I'm crazy I know. I asked 10 people if they thought I was crazy. They said yes and so did 5 other people even though I didn't ask. The next thing I did confirmed my suspicions of me being crazy... I started laughing hysterically. I mean, I love laughing. I laugh at everything. But right now was kind of inappropriate. I couldn't help it. Lona and Pam started laughing nervously because I was cracking up and they were laughing at me, but were embarrassed to ask what I was laughing at. So really, they were laughing at nothing, but then, so was I. Val looked at me weirdly and I laughed harder. I was crying from the strain of laughing that hard. Val knew I had these laughing fits that lasted 15 minutes at a time. It hurts, but helps. I have to get it out of my system. Then everyone in the car started laughing, even Mick, really hard. We all doubled over, if it's possible in a car, and cracked up. We stayed that way for a good 30 minutes. I was the last to stop laughing. We all had cramps in our stomachs. By the end of that, it was 3 o'clock. Pam and Mick went to get snacks and I stretched my legs with Val. Lona went to the bathroom.

When we all got back in the car it was time to get off. We were at Port Salerno. Not the Salerno city in Italy. Well, obviously. We're in the U.S.! I drove off the boat and to the nearest McDonald's. We bought dinner there. We ate in the car at the pier and waited for Pete to show up. It was getting tense in the air. I guess Pete was right about the battle. After 25 minutes of sitting there, Pete tapped on my window. I scooted over toward Val to let Pete in the driver's seat. Thank Redd it wasn't a stick shift. I introduced Pete to all of the girls and Mick.  
>"Hello. Sorry for rushing you, Nicki. Let's see who we've got here. Valerie Prentue. Nicki's older sister. Pamala Simmons. Nice to meet you. Lona Denerick. How do you do? Mickey Jutty the Fairy. Good to see you." Pete said happily to everyone.<br>"How d'you know our names?" Pam asked. She hated her full name.  
>"I just know. It's my talent. Like Lona, except I can tell what people are coming to me for help." He answered.<br>"So. Where exactly are we going," Val asked.  
>"Exactly is the Jackson Memorial on 50 Northeast and 9th Street, Miami, Florida." He said while starting the car. He drove out of the parking lot and was going to go exactly where he said. I wondered why we had to go there. It was a statue of General Jackson, but what did that have to do with getting Creatures to fight? Pete seemed to read my mind because he piped up after 5 miles of driving.<br>"If you know where to look, look for the biggest groups of non-fighting Creatures. You can always find someone to help you. I'm your guy for Miami. Under the Jackson Memorial is a large under ground cave full of Creatures. They just live there. Peacefully. Happily. They just don't want to fight because their hiding place is safe, but it isn't. Someone on the outside told the government of the place. In two days they are going to attack. We need you girls to inspire them to help. Rally them up from their present states of mind."  
>"How? We don't have proof that the government knows where they are. They might think it was us who told the government." Pam said.<br>"I have proof. I've been intercepting the phone calls to the officials and the guy who is giving them away. I have them recorded at my house." Pete said.  
>"You have a house?" Lona asked.<br>"Well, I don't want to sleep with some of the Creatures down in the cave. Some of them are really nasty pieces of muscle. We have seven miles to go until we reach Port Saint Lucie. I'll fill the car up with gas and then we can hit the road. All 112 miles of it. Until we reach Jackson Square, of course."  
>We fell asleep during the ride. I woke up when we were 20 miles away from Jackson.<p>

"Hey, sleepy head." Pete whispered. Everyone else was asleep.  
>"Hey. We almost there?"<br>"Almost there." He agreed. "Why do you hang around the vampire?"  
>This shocked me, "Because we are together. He is one of my only friends."<br>"That doesn't mean you should hang around him. He almost tried to kill you—twice! Why go with him?" He was right next to me. Shoulder to shoulder. I felt uncomfortable even though I kept playing Everytime We Touch by Cascada in my head.  
>"Well, we just stick together. He's friends with James who is with Val."<br>"Dump the vampire. He's only gonna cause trouble. Be with me." Pete whispered with feeling.  
>I got goose bumps all over. "I just met you." Was all I could say.<br>"You're going to be spending a lot of time with me. I'm like Lona, but I can tell what a person is feeling- not the future. You are afraid of him, but not of me." Well, actually, I was afraid of him. I think? I couldn't think any more. He leaned over and kissed me. I jumped so bad that I woke up Mick. Or he was already awake. Or he had this thing that told him he had to protect his friends. I don't know, but he punched Pete away from me. Pete swerved a bit, but gained control again.  
>"What is your problem?" Pete asked in a calm whisper.<br>"Can't you see she is already taken? Back off." Mick said standing up for me. Pete whispered something that was like a chant and Mick and I fell back to sleep.

Next thing I saw was total darkness and the darkness was soft. Pillow, I thought. I was laying on a bed. I turned over and sat up. On a queen bed next to Val. How did I get here? I was in a plain room. Nothing fancy. There was a bathroom connecting to my room. There was a door connecting my room to a hallway. Across from my room was Pam and Lona's room. I could see them sleeping. I got out of bed. I was in  
>different clothes. Clean clothes. I was wearing a red shirt and gray shorts. My hair was combed and I had my glasses on already. My hair would have surely been messy and my glasses come off? My clothes wouldn't have changed themselves, could they have? I walked into the hallway. To the right was another bedroom with Pete and Mick in it<br>sleeping. To the left was the living room. I chose left. In the living room was a TV and two couches. I walked to the right through another door leading to the kitchen. Out of curiosity I looked in the refrigerator. I could make a hearty breakfast out of these ingredients. I wanted to. I grabbed the egg carton, a pack of bacon, six potatoes, the butter, a package of bread, and started getting it ready. I scrambled twelve eggs and cooked them on the stove while I kept putting toast in the toaster. On the next place on the stove I was baking bacon. I was making coffee and setting the table. I pulled out six large glasses and filled them with orange juice. I pulled out six mugs for coffee and six little glasses if they wanted milk. I heaped bacon and eggs on everyone's plates. I already pealed and chopped the potatoes so I had to cook them. I started doing that and waking everyone up. I filled their mugs with coffee, little cups with milk, and large glasses with orange juice while they filed in and sat at the table. I put homemade fries on their plates and cleaned up my cooking supplies in the sink. I got out six little plates and put two pieces of toast on each. Then I finally sat down.  
>"Wow." Pete said.<br>"Thanks." Pam and Lona said together.  
>"Yum!" Mick said.<br>"You out did yourself." Val said.  
>"Dig in." I said.<br>Everyone started eating. I must say, it was totally awesome and I did out do myself, but we were all hungry. After every plate was cleared and no scrap was left, everyone retired to the living room while Val and I cleaned up.  
>"There is a spell that would do this for us, you know." She said.<br>"And you know I like washing things." Really, I liked playing in the water and she knew that, too.  
>"Pete advanced on me last night when everyone was asleep. Mick punched him off of me, though." I told Val. She knew what I meant.<br>"I don't really trust him."  
>"Me neither."<br>"Gonna be bad."  
>"Totally."<br>"Well, let's see what everyone is up to." Val led the way into the living room. Everyone was watching the news on the TV. The battle went bad for our side, but quite a few government men were taken down.  
>"This is why we need the Creatures to help fight. We will lose without them." Pete said.<br>"Alright. Let's grab the recordings and move out." Mick said.  
>Pete already had them in his right hand and the car keys in the left. We hopped into the car and Pete drove us to the Jackson Memorial. We all looked up at Jackson on his horse.<br>"So how..?" I said.  
>"It's like in the spy movies! We pet the horses nose and a hole opens in the ground at the horses feet. We slide down a giant slide and land on something soft. Then, we storm into the castle of the king and queen and demand them to cooperate." Pam said using her wild imagination.<br>"Sort of. We pet the nose, go through the slide, and land on something soft, but we don't storm in. We walk in and persuade the king and queen to help." Pete said.  
>"Close enough." Pam said to herself, but loud enough for me to hear, since I was standing next to her. I petted the horses nose first then Val, Lona, Mick, Pam, and Pete. I slid down the gigantic slide and landed on a soft bed. I quickly rolled off so I wouldn't be squished by Val.<p> 


	8. Chapter 8

We took a look around. All of our mouths dropped open. It was massive. This place was massive. There was everything down here, like up there, except the 'people' were all Creatures: goblins, vampires, trolls, ghouls, ghosts (that's a first), witches and wizards, werewolves, and everything that we thought a myth or legend. I even saw my all time fear: Giant Snakes. I shivered so bad I bumped Val. She understood why though. I had this crazy thought. What if everything we thought as a myth or legend was put into an alternative universe, hypothetically speaking, and there was only a small tunnel connecting our two worlds. When we went exploring we opened that tunnel and all our myths came out. All of our legends came out... But of course that was a crazy thought, because I'm crazy.

In this underground cave thing, there were hospitals, malls, stores, houses, apartments, and hotels. It was exactly the same as up there. Even the same names as the stores like Old Navy, Macy's, Abercrombie and Finch, and Hot Topic. To our left there was a very big hospital. It was twice as big as a normal hospital. But then the trolls were twice our size, too. To our right was a mall. That was big, too. Right in front of us, about 2 miles away, was the castle. That's where the royals live.  
>"You guys ready?" Pete asked patiently.<br>"Y-yeah. Come on, guys." Mick said tearing his eyes away from the mall. We walked 2 miles to get to the castle. We marched up the grand front stairs. We strode through the huge doors. We got intercepted to be checked if we had anything that might be a threat. We didn't, even though we had knives, they didn't find anything. We slowly walked up the main hall. And we knelt down at the king and queens feet.  
>"My King, my Queen." Pete said while kneeling with his head bowed.<br>"Peter, dear. We haven't seen you for a while." The Queen said.  
>"Where have you been?" The King demanded.<br>"Fighting for Creatures' lives." Pete answered standing up. We all stood, too. "These witches and fairy have come to tell you what will happen if you don't help in the war."  
>"Bah! The war!" The King said bitterly. "It does no good on both sides. We are safe here. No one knows where we are."<br>"But someone does. We have proof if you don't believe us." Pam said bravely.  
>"Who dares speak when not spoken to!?" The King roared, but the coughed a bit at the end.<br>"Don't strain yourself. Take a deep breath." The Queen said to the King.  
>"I'm trying to be awe-some." The King said.<br>"Excuse me, but awesome? Like cool?" Lona asked.  
>"No like awe inspiring." Val told Lona.<br>"Yes. Now, what proof do you have? I might be persuaded if you give me a good case." The King said.  
>"Good case, sir?" Val asked excitedly. She wanted to become a lawyer.<br>"Yes. A trial. My lawyers against your evidence. They will prevent me from fighting until they have a good case." The King said.  
>"We haven't had proper greetings!" The Queen exclaimed, remembering her manners. "Excuse us. Call me Mama Sally or Sally. You can call my husband Dr. K."<br>"Yes, Mama Sally." I said bowing respectfully. I didn't like the sound of Mama Sally, so I decided just Sally was fine.  
>"They may call me that when they have won. You get 10 minutes to get your evidence together." The King left the room and so did Sally after apologizing.<br>"Okay. We need a recorder." I said. One popped up out of nowhere. I guess the royals are witch and wizard.  
>"Let's listen to it so we can get our notes correct." Val said with a pad and pen in her hand.<br>Pete switched it on.

"Number 21300." the first person said.  
>"Speak," came a dark, but professional second voice.<br>"We have discovered the lair of the King and Queen of Miami Undertown," that voice sounded familiar.  
>"Speak," that voice didn't.<br>"Rub the nose of the horse on the Jackson Memorial. Then slide down the hole that appears at its feet. The castle is straight forward 2 miles," sounded like I've heard that voice not that long ago.  
>"Attack 4 days," the professional said.<br>"Yes, sir." That was... But it couldn't have... I looked at Lona, with wide eyes and my mouth open. She looked back at me.  
>"No..." I whispered in denial. "No..! No! NO! It can't be! NO!" I tried to grab the tape, but Pete grabbed it out of my hands.<br>"It's our only proof. We need it. Destroy it after the trial, but not now." Pete said desperately. I started walking away at a brisk pace. Pam caught up with me. I started jogging which made Pam run a bit because I have longer legs. I ran as fast as I can which was pretty fast. Pam still was by my side. Darn! I forgot she took track and was one of the fastest people on the team. I kept running until I reached the slide. I sat down heavily, gasping for breath, on the soft bed thing that caught us going down the slide. I don't know how I ran two miles like that since I can't even run the mile at school. I got the time 14 minutes and 13 seconds. I was almost dead.

"You can't help it. That probably wasn't him." Pam said kneeling at my feet with her hands on my knees.  
>"It c-can't have b-been him." I said still gasping for the breath that couldn't come fast enough.<br>"We don't know. But what we do know is that Bon would have never done such a thing in his right mind."  
>"What if s-s-someone was c-controlling him? It would-dn't be in his r-right mind." I gasped. It felt like my lungs were dead.<br>"We will find out." Pam assured me. We sat like that for about 15 minutes. Once I was breathing properly, we walked back to the castle. Another two miles to my day. That's like six miles. Wow. So we went back and sat down with the rest of my group. They were in the middle of playing the recording.  
>"How's it going?" I asked Val.<br>"Very good," she whispered back. The recording stopped.  
>"This evidence shows nothing. It was a conversation. There is another Jackson Memorial elsewhere." An old vampire said. Creepy, I thought.<br>"Yes, it does, because the conversation was taken place in Miami. That means they are here and ready to fight. I documented this two days ago. That means tomorrow they attack." Pete said to the King who was on his throne. We were on his left and his lawyers were standing on his right. Trolls were guarding the exits. Why, I thought.  
>"What's your choice, my King?" the old vampire said.<br>"We will defend, but not advance on their side." The King said. "If they attack us we attack back, if they don't attack then we don't attack."  
>"Very good, my King. I will get ready the army." The old vampire started to leave, but Val said, "Well done, wise vampire." He smiled at her and bowed then left.<br>"Very well done, indeed. You may call me Dr. K. You may stay in my rooms. Pick anyone." The King left the throne.  
>"Let's go decide what rooms we will sleep in. We need to stick together, though." I said.<p> 


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: I am so sincerely sorry. This was totally forgotten in my mind. I will post three chapters. Please forgive me. And drop a review, too.**

We started walking around. There were different battle armors like you see in movies at castles, but these were big for trolls or small for goblins. We saw portraits, I'm guessing, of the heir line of the King and Queen's family, going way back. It was an awesome and awe-some sight. The coolest and best thing was the bedrooms. They were humongous! The beds were all king size and there was at least two dressers and two night tables in each. There were bathrooms connecting to all rooms. The bathroom in the room I took was just wow. A hot tub to the right, a regular shower to the left, a bathtub in the left corner stretching along the wall the door was on, and a golden toilet! I was ecstatic. The tiles were pure white granite and the appliances were all gold, not just the toilet. The walls were tiled light blue and white. In the bed chamber, the bed had curtains that were red, the carpet was soft and red, the curtains on my French doors were red, the flowers sitting outside on the patio were red, and the wall paper was red striped with pale red. See a connection? I love red, like I mentioned before.

In the drawers of the dressers were clothes, all the color red except for the shorts which were tan. They were khakis with many pockets so I was happy. I changed into one of them and a red shirt. I put my leather wallet in a Velcro pocket at the bottom of my shorts. The shorts go to the bottom of my knee. That's how I like'em! They were a bit baggy too. Cool! And new pair of skater shoes at the bottom of my bed. Sweet! I put them on. Then I saw on the other dresser a jewelry kit. I only wear earrings and a choker from down the shore. Red hoop earrings and a gray choker made down at the beach. This day couldn't get any better. I washed my face and went to Val's room. It was all like her favorite color: blue. Lona's was orange. Pam's was pink. Mick's was purple... And Pete's was, um, black? He said he had a bad childhood. Oh well, but I did take note of it just in case he turned out bad. We all had changed. Pete was in all black. A t-shirt that showed his muscle and loose nylon shorts. Mick was wearing the same thing, but in tan shorts and white shirt. He had put gel in his hair to spike it up and he had sunglasses on which looked cool on him. Pam was wearing a skort that poofed out at the bottom and a tight t-shirt which I did not approve of, but the thing she liked most was the 80's. She also had hoop earrings but everything was pink. Ew for me. Lona was in jean shorts and a long sleeved shirt that was orange. The shorts were jean-blue. It was a good combo, except the shorts were too short for me. Val was wearing a long sleeved turtle neck that was light, not heavy like wool. Her shorts were just above the knee and everything was blue. The earrings she had in were blue studs. Everyone was looking at each other. Mick was closely examining Pam's top. Pam was looking at Mick's muscles through his shirt. Lona was looking at herself and kept pulling at her sleeves as if they weren't long enough even though they went past her knuckles. Val was looking at Pete who was looking at me who I was avoiding eyes with. I wished everyone would stop looking at each other. It was embarrassing.

All the servants were walking around with smug smiles. I took note of the smiling for no reason. By then, one of them stopped in front of me and said the Queen wanted tea with all of us. We followed him down the hall, down a stairway, across an open room, through a library, and into the tearoom.

This room had a circular table in the center of the room with chairs around it. The Queen was in the biggest chair facing the doorway. The carpet was yellow and the walls were sky blue. We all sat down. I was at her right hand and Pete on her left. Val was to the right of me and to the right of her was Lona. To the left of Pete was Mick and to the left of him was Pam who was to the right of Lona. Whew, confusing, right? Anyway, we all sat down.  
>"Welcome to the tearoom. You should have had a tour of the castle sooner, but we had no time. We will always have tea in here before dinner while, usually, the boys will meet Dr. K in his study. He has work to do right now." The Queen said. Servants, meaning ghosts, brought tea to us. We helped ourselves to sugar and milk and lemon juice and honey. For me, I put in like six scoops of sugar, because I like my tea sweet and 14 (I think) of a cup of milk or until it is light-ish brown. We sipped our tea and chatted about up there and down here. It was pleasing. It went quite well. Haha! I felt like we were in the 1800's sipping tea and chatting. I really did like it. Sometimes, for no reason, I would make tea for myself and drink it. Val thought I was weird in that way. We all finished our tea just in time for dinner. We had skipped lunch, because of our big breakfast so we were hungry. They had roast chicken that was so good it was like heaven on Earth. They also made mashed potatoes and gravy, corn on the cob, rolls and butter, spaghetti, a lot of vegetables, and whatever drink you wanted without it being alcoholic, of course. (Mick: "Aw, man!" jokingly said.) We were all stuffed and ready to go to bed. We all sleepily marched up the stairs to our rooms. I took off my shoes and just plopped in bed. I sank a couple inches. That's how soft it was. The pillows were feathers under my head. I was just about to doze off when there was a knock on my door.

"Come in?" I said.  
>"I need to talk to you." It was Pete.<br>"Quickly. I'm dead tired," which meant 'Go away. I'm dead tired.'  
>"You know whose voice that was on the recording right?"<br>"Yes."  
>"You know what this means?"<br>"No. It doesn't mean anything. There is no proof it was him. It just sounds like him. People on the phone don't sound like themselves too. So it could have been anyone." I said defensively. I don't like talking about people behind their backs.  
>"Fine. Then tomorrow, what gun are you using?" We had to use guns, because they had guns. I would have preferred bow and arrow but it wasn't that age...<br>"Sniper. We are all snipers. Unless they want to fight with magic from the battlements." We weren't going into the fight. We needed to stay alive.  
>"I'm going to be front line." He admitted like it was a burden on his shoulders. He sat down on my bed. I was already in sitting position. I looked around the room, because of the awkwardness. They put roses on one night table. Red everything and red roses. Red either means blood or...romance. I looked back at him right in the eye.<br>"Be careful." I said with anguish, with real feeling I hadn't meant to expose. He was my friend, that's all, right?  
>"I will try." He leaned closer to me. I leaned closer to him. I closed my eyes and we were kissing. I didn't even think about Bon. Who cares about him! I still did, but hel-lo Pete. I put my hands around his neck and he put a hand on the small of my back and the other on my cheek. Intimate. We stopped and rested our foreheads together with our noses touching.<br>"Be careful." I said with the same as before.  
>"For you, I will be." Cheesy, but okay in this setting, I thought. We kissed shortly and he left. He looked at me when he closed the door. When it was shut I thought he would come rushing back in, but that was just my imagination. I went to lay down again, but another person knocked.<br>"Come in." I said annoyed. I really was extremely tired.  
>"Hey." It was Lona.<br>"Hey." I said inviting her to say what she came for.  
>"Is everything okay?" She meant with Pete and me.<br>I blushed, "Fantastic."  
>"Good. I had a mini prediction. I'm sorry about Bon. It is true."<br>"That's okay. I'm over him for now. Later it will come back head on and I'll be sad about it, but not now. Just not now."  
>"That's good." Lona said smiling. She kissed me on the cheek and said goodnight. She turned off the light for me and closed the door. I fell back into my feathers and went out like my light.<p>

We all woke early for the next day. Like 5 in the morning early. We all dressed and ate as much as our nervous stomachs could take. We were told how to hold, load, and shoot a gun. I'm a pretty good shot. But even this won't be fun. Killing other people. Like they don't have families! If Val died, I would die with her or a huge chunk of my heart would go down the drain. Let's not think that, I thought restraining tears. The shooting captain said it was fine if we didn't shoot. We went to the battlements and set up the guns. We were all going to use disarming magic that either disarmed the guy, disarmed his mind, or disarmed him physically. Well, scratch that last one. We all separated to different places. Pete came with me. Hand in hand we walked to my bedroom where we could get some peace and privacy. We sat down on my bed like last night.  
>"Be careful." I said again. That's getting to be like a cliché.<br>"I will."  
>"I'll be covering your back. Don't worry, I'm a good shot." I added when I saw him readying an answer that would decline my help.<br>"I hope you're as good at shooting as you are at kissing." He kissed me quickly, teasing me. I kissed him, but we both jumped at the sound of the horn. The attack was upon us. I didn't know how scared I was, but right then a whole load of dread filled my insides. I looked at Pete.  
>"Good-bye, Nicki." He ran off to be in the front line. Oh God, I prayed, please help him. Keep him safe. I ran to my place at the battlements. I scanned the crowd of Creatures for my beloved Peter. I spied him behind a tree. The trolls were really the front line, because they could take bullets and not die, but Pete was in the front line of Creatures that had soft skin. They all had a hiding place, so they could surprise the enemy.<br>"You ready, girls?" Val asked determinedly.  
>"Yes." I said, not feeling as courageous as my voice.<br>"Yes." Pam and Lona said in unison.  
>"We only kill if our friends are in danger or if they break our defenses all the way to the front steps." Val said.<br>"Yes." We said.  
>"Be strong. Use magic at first. Pam and Lona stay at the guns. Nicki and I will fight with magic." Val said.<br>"Yes." We repeated.  
>"Let's do this!" I shouted to get the tension out of me. It echoed. I thought I heard Pete respond to that with a cry of his own. I also told Lona to watch Pete for me and tell me when he was in danger.<br>"I love you." I heard Pam say for Mick and there was a cry from in the distance. Then the enemy came rushing at us. 


	10. Chapter 10

I couldn't tell you what happened exactly from the starting point of the battle, 7 a.m., to the end, 8 p.m., except that it was taxing on the body to use magic this much. But we had to. At the beginning, we had no idea what spells to use. We tried a ton of different spells to see what worked best. The best was to make them lose all feeling in their legs so they drop to the ground and then ten seconds later, regain the feeling. By then, they either were squished by troll feet or pulled away by other men. Lona and Pam were doing small spells to enhance our Creatures offenses and defenses. I was almost sick a few times when I saw some men die, because a troll went down. A shiver ran down my back when, I think I killed a guy because I made it so he couldn't walk. This was so bad. I would be haunted forever. I started using a different spell that would make them forget what they were supposed to do so they would stay out of it. It did work. Some of the time. Most had strong minds.

Then suddenly, Lona called out to me. I released the energy I was gathering for another spell and ran to the gun where Lona was. It was pointed right at Pete. He was surrounded by the 8 men with him backed up against his tree. Oh no! I'm going to have to shoot. Crud! Ok here we go. Load, aim, shoot. The guy went down. Then the next, then another three. Pete handled the other startled men. I can't wait until this is over. I can't wait here! I grabbed two hand guns. They were sitting there just in case the castle was taken over so we could defend ourselves. I grabbed some extra ammo.  
>"I love you, girls!" I shouted and ran down at least five sets of stairs. Geez. They need elevators, I thought. When I got down the front steps, I ran to Pete's tree. He was still there. He faced me and turned his back to the bad men.<br>"What are you doing?" He asked.  
>"Helping." I said shortly. I didn't care anymore. I shot two guys behind Pete who were sneaking up on him.<br>"You can't fight down here!" He shouted over an explosion.  
>"Oh, I can and I will! You can't stop me." I started walking away and shooting at the same time.<br>"I will pick you up and put you back up there." He said pointing to the battlements.  
>"Just try!" I yelled at him daring him to come and get me. He put his guns in the two shoulder holsters he had strapped to him. He did some really fast movements that were more complicated than Lona's. Air magic. Darn! Wind blew my hair around and I got picked up off my feet. Okay so aim, aim some more, and fire. I shot his arm. That was such a bad idea because I was ten feet in the air and that I shot him. I dropped to the ground on my butt and he dropped to his knees holding his arm. It wasn't that bad.<br>"I told you. Just try." I said running into the battle. This part passed in a blur and a lot of noise from my guns. I was streaking across the field like no tomorrow. If I got hit, then there would be no tomorrow. They started to retreat because most of the trolls wouldn't go down. I went back to the castle and to my room after they had all gone and the battle field was cleaned up of all the bodies. I didn't help with that clean up. Instead, I threw up in my bathroom. I hate fighting, but when I need to in the future, it wouldn't be to the death. I was dry heaving when there was a knock on my door. I wiped my mouth.  
>"Come in?" I said walking into the bedroom. It was Pete, like I expected. He had his left arm in a sling.<br>"I can't believe you would shoot me!" He said, storming into my room.  
>"I told you I was going to fight. You couldn't stop me." I said simply.<br>"You still don't shoot your boyfriend." We were yelling.  
>"Who said you were my boyfriend? Maybe you're a side dish and Bon is still my full meal." I was louder.<br>"But it isn't that way, because you said maybe."  
>"Well, boys shouldn't get in the way of a headstrong girl. You shouldn't have got in the way!" I shouted. , Val came storming in, as well.<br>"What were you thinking?!" Now it was a shouting party!  
>"I was helping out. I was an idiot. Both of you go away! I know what risk I took! Val, I couldn't have just stood there and watch Pete as died. And Pete, I saved your life! You should be thanking me. I saved it twice. I could have shot you through your h-h-" I was going to say head, but couldn't bring myself to it because I had to throw up again. I ran to the toilet. I threw up. Val left because if she saw or smelled the puke she would toss her cookies like me. Pete just left. I was crying. It was because of the puke. Whenever you throw up something triggers you to cry as well. I don't know why. Okay, that was an excuse. But a good part of it. I went back and lay down on my bed. I hate when writers say that their characters fall asleep when their head hits the pillow. It has yet to happen to me. I kept replaying the images of the men on the ground, dead. I don't know when I fell asleep.<p>

The next day, Pete and Val wouldn't talk to me. Or be in the same room. So, when it came to tea time with Queen Sally, I didn't go. Why should they miss out on tea because of me? I went to the battlements instead. Pete. He skipped seeing the King.  
>"Oh. I'll just leave if you want." I said turning around.<br>"No, it's okay. Stay." He said calmly, patiently.  
>"Alright." He was leaning on the edge of the stone wall, looking out at the other buildings.<br>"I forgive you, you know. I hope you forgive me." I said  
>He sighed, "Of course I do."<br>"Why have you been avoiding me if you forgive me?"  
>"I don't know. I just didn't want this time to come. I didn't know if you would be cool enough or even if I would be cool enough. I was scared. You would have yelled at me. Believe me." He admitted.<br>"Believe has lie in it. Anyway, I was scared, too." I moved to his side and we intertwined our fingers. I nudged his shoulder against mine.  
>"Yeah, right. That's a lie. I can't <em>believe<em> you." He said doubtfully.  
>"Yeah, sorry. I would have stood up for myself." I said blushing and laughing.<br>"Now where are you going?"  
>"Oh. Um, Jackson, Mississippi. It will be a long journey, but not our longest." I suddenly felt my pocket vibrate. My phone! I totally forgot. It was an EnV 2. I don't get a lot of texts or calls, so I usually forget about it. How did it get in my pocket? I took it out. It said on the screen: Mom, then flashed her number then Mom again.<br>"Crud...Hello?" I said.  
>"Where have you been?" She asked sternly.<br>"Oh, we went on a trip with Pam. It was for Spring Break." I said hopping she would go for it.  
>"Well, we haven't heard from you and you didn't stop by before you left. How's Val?" She asked. She usually wasn't this laid back.<br>"Oh, she's fine. She is sleeping. She felt a bit sick, but she's probably fine." I lied. I'm good at that.  
>"Alright. Have fun. We are going up to Canada. I just wanted to check on you. Bye." She hung up. Well, that was rushed! I didn't care.<br>"Sorry, my mom." I said to Pete.  
>"Ah. I don't have one, she died when I was born. I don't know. I grew up with my Dad who died when I was 8."<br>"I'm sorry."  
>"Don't be. You have nothing to be sorry about. It's not your fault. I'm not in an orphanage, which is a good thing. But I acquired everything from magic. Which is bad, but I have to live somehow." He said. He did have a troubled past.<br>"Oh. Well, come with us. The seats in the car can expand to fit about four people to each seat. Come. It will be fun. You can shove everything in the trunk. We can shrink what you want and put it in. I want you to come." I told him.  
>"You don't need to beg. I'll come." He said looking at me for the first time today. I kissed him on the cheek and we walked down to dinner hand in hand and side by side.<p>

Dinner was yummy. I'm such a kid. We could order whatever we wanted and they would serve it to us. I got spaghetti with sauce and parmesan cheese on top. It was so good. I love cheese... I ordered Diet Coke to drink. It was good, but I like last night's dinner better. I went to bed on a full stomach. I dreamt that I was in the battle. I was doing great. But then one of their men came up from behind me and he had a knife. Pete was in front of me. He yelled for me to look out, but it was too late. The man came up from behind me and stuck the foot long knife right through my stomach. So much for life, I thought. Pete shot the guy and knelt at my head. He picked up my head and put it in his lap. My vision and hearing were fading. He kept saying "no" over and over. I put a hand over my wound and looked at my hand. Red, I thought, my favorite color.  
>I looked at Pete. "I love you." I whispered. Then my hearing went and slowly his face disappeared. Next I was in a chamber. It was really dark and I almost didn't notice the man sitting in a throne right in front of me. He seemed to be talking to himself. My hearing was still shot, so I couldn't hear. My vision was getting better, but not my hearing. The man was wearing a black cloak. Its hood was up so I couldn't see his face, but his hands were showing. They were normal, human hands, but then he could be a wizard. My hearing was back now. I totally missed what he was saying to himself, though.<br>"Welcome, kid." That voice again. Oh no, please no. Not Bon.  
>"No." I said. Actually I was repeating it over and over.<br>"Yes, yes. It is I, Bon. And yet that isn't my name. That isn't who I really am." What did he mean by that? "You will be wise to not interfere with the downfall of Creatures. You will stay away." The dream disappeared. In the morning, when I woke up, I couldn't remember the second dream, only the first.


	11. Chapter 11

First thing we did was pack all of our new clothes into suitcases large enough to fit every piece of clothing, but light enough to feel like five pounds. I was driver. Pete was next to me and Lona next to him. Pam and Mick sitting in the back and to the right and Val was right behind me in the backseat.  
>"We will be traveling 912.3 miles. We should take a plane. It will only take us 15 hours to get there." Val said putting her fingers to her temples.<br>"Alright. But that's going to cost big bucks to find a plane like that."  
>"Hey. Let me mention my dad again. He is famous all over the United States. He used to be an air pilot for the Navy. Now he has an industry in building planes for them. Even though he is with the Creatures, he can't lose his job because of them. At work he pretends to hate them like everyone else." Pam finally admitted. "Oh, and he was in the Marines for a little while and he was very good at mechanics for them." She revealed his past to us finally. That was surprising because he was so laid back.<br>"Oh." I said. We were all shocked, to say the least.  
>"Yeah. So, let's go." Pam said trying to ignore the fact that she told us secret information that she wasn't allowed to tell us.<p>

"We won't tell anyone." Lona said. I drove to the nearest airport. We talked to a lot of people, but finally got to the right guy. He said he was once friends with "Buck". We loaded our car into the plane and they strapped it down. There was a little space where we could sit with seats and seatbelts. It was early in the morning, still, when we took off. I grabbed a few hours of sleep. When I woke, someone was standing in front of me.  
>"Hello." She said putting out her hand.<br>"Nice to meet you?" I said while shaking her hand.  
>"I'm Theresa Alko." She pronounced her last name like All-co.<br>"I'm Nicki Prentue." I said introducing myself.  
>"I'm your new guide. Looks like Petey came with you. Doesn't matter." Theresa said.<br>"Theresa?" I started but...  
>"No, no. Call me Resa for short."<br>"Okay, Resa. Where will you take us?" I asked, standing up to stretch and to see how tall she was. She had to be at least 4 feet 11 inches. She had short, spiky, brown hair with bright, blue eyes.  
>"Oh, that's the surprise! Isn't it?" She had an Australian accent. Cool.<br>"Alright." I said. "Grab a seat and wait for the ride." I gestured toward an empty seat.  
>"Thank you. I hope you'll introduce me to your friends." I was about to say they were asleep, but they started waking up.<br>"Hey, guys." I said to get their attention. "This is Theresa Alko. She will be our guide in Jackson."  
>"Call me Resa." She said while shaking everyone's hand. When she got to Pete, he stood up and hugged her so hard I thought he was going to crush her. Then he kissed her on the cheek and sat back down.<br>"How you doin', kiddo?" He said casually.  
>"Gettin' along, mate."<br>"Ya didn't come and visit often."  
>"Too much to do. The counsel has had it with my parties." What counsel? Why aren't they helping?<br>"Ah, that dumb counsel. Never really wanted to be one myself, but..." I looked at Pete. He gave me a look that said, 'I'll tell you everything later.' Fine. Later he's going to have to tell me everything, even about Shorty here. We sat in silence until Lona started shaking again. Crazy thought here, what if she started shaking when she was very old and we thought she was making a prediction, but really she was having a seizure? Crazy thought...

"The counsel will not take your claims." She said in an echo of her own voice, "But they will accept a magical duel. No rules. Pick two people to fight. No guides help." She stopped there. Magical duel? What?  
>"Geez." Pete sighed. He put his head in his hands.<br>"What's that?" I asked after telling Lona everything she said.  
>"A magical duel is when four people, two to each side, fight until both people on one side go down. Either knocked unconscious or dead." Val said in a matter-of-factly tone.<br>"So, since we aren't allowed guides and only ourselves, who do we pick?" Pam asked.  
>"Definitely Val." Lona said.<br>"Oh, thanks." Val said. The last part didn't sound too good, until their dead. Whew shivers down my spine.  
>"I'll go."<br>"Yeah, since you are more powerful than all of us." They still couldn't get over that. But they said I should go with Val. Lona was afraid she might stop and make a prediction and get blown to bits and Pam couldn't handle the stress that might come up, or so she said. Well, we had another three hours to go. We had lost so much money for this trip. 1,400 bucks, plus money for the credit card Pam had. I hoped her father understood. But then Pete came along and said he had a big inheritance of five million dollars.  
>"Wait. Five MILLION? Wow." Lona said. I didn't say anything. I was feeling guilty for the thoughts I was thinking. What if we stayed together? Until we married? It will look like I was just in it for the money. I couldn't ask him for any during this trip, because I couldn't pay him back. This just got complicated for me and him. I thought everything was going so well. Dumb inheritance. I wouldn't meet his gaze. I was keeping up some idle chatter with Pam and Val. Lona was talking to Resa.<br>"Can I talk to you, Nicki?" Pete said breaking into our conversation. Everyone looked at him.  
>"Yeah, alright." We walked off out of hearing range.<br>"What's wrong?" He asked.  
>"Nothing." I said too quickly.<br>"Something's up." He pushed.  
>"Well, your inheritance will make everything awkward. I couldn't ask you for money because I couldn't pay you back. And if I stay with you, it looks like I'm in it for the money." I said still not meeting his gaze. If I did, I would blush from my neck to the roots of my hair.<br>"I don't care about it. I don't even touch it. I will give it to you for your traveling expenses. I don't need it."  
>"Don't say that. Of course you're gonna need it." I didn't want to have this conversation.<br>"Well, yes I do. I need it for you four. And five if you count Resa, but she's a different story."  
>"That's a story I want to hear. Now." I demanded bossily.<br>"Okay. Let's see, we went to wizard and witching school together. That's where we learned complicated magic. She is Earth. I'm Air. We had one class together. Lunch. We talked about going into the counsel together. I didn't get in. I got to be a guide. I had to wait for you four. Every ten years there is a new prophecy from some witch in the counsel. I was picked for Miami, since I live there. Resa was picked for Jackson, because she guards the counsel and is a guide. The counsel moves a lot, but now they wait for this war to be over. You don't want to cross her. I did once, but that was before she was a guard. She was bad back then, but now... So anyway, we are just old friends. Nothing more." Pete said a bit out of breath.  
>"Okay. I wasn't accusing you."<br>"You thought it."  
>"Did not."<br>"Did to."  
>"Not."<br>"To."  
>"Not."<br>"To."  
>"Ugh!" I threw up my hands and walked away back to my seat. He was laughing when he came back.<br>"You're such a girl." He said. All five of us girls looked at him.  
>"Um, sorry." He looked away. I smiled. We can still over power him. Go girls! I'm such a sexist. Meaning, I like woman to have their rightful rights. Men are okay, but totally taking over our lives! Gosh. We played cards to kill time. Resa came with them. Thank her. I was so bored. We played War and Slap Jack and Rumee 500 (rum-E). That took long enough for the plane ride to be over. I hadn't ever gone on a plane before. I was thankful that I didn't barf, but all that puking before. Ech!<p> 


	12. Chapter 12

We drove out of the plane and to the nearest convenience store. We found out where we were pretty quickly. Resa drove us to a hotel, so we could sleep for the night. There was a knock on my hotel room door. I opened it and Bon shot in really fast. He slammed the door behind him. I backed up and crawled onto my bed, which was the farthest I could have gotten.  
>"I need your help." He said plopping down on my bed and ignoring my frightened state.<br>"No!" I've been saying that a lot lately. I'm such a rebel. "You're a traitor! You don't care about the Creatures. You stupid liar," I said pretty calmly.  
>"No, that's not right. Let me explain. You love me. Let me explain. I've been having fugues," (fugues are times when you do something, but aren't aware of it until you wake up from the state you were in), "I usually can't remember why I'm in a black cloak, but there are times when I knew I put one on. I don't know what happens in that time that has passed. You have to help me." He sincerely was trying to get my help. I got up and locked the door. I walked in front of him, so I could see his face.<br>"I don't love you anymore. I belong to someone else. Well, I don't exactly know how I feel." I said looking in his eyes. I guess he expected it, because he didn't look surprised. He stood up and started to leave. He unlocked the door, but I called him back. He came back quickly.  
>"We can be friends and I can help if you let me."<br>"I don't need your help. I trusted you." He leaned closer and whispered so quietly that only I could hear, even though there was no one else in the room. "I trusted you to stay with me. It was you who went away. Not me." Just then the door opened. It was Pete. He saw Bon leaning over me. I gasped, because he scared me. Bon disappeared on the spot.

"Kissing your ex in secret? Why couldn't you just tell me you were lying?" Pete slammed the door in my face. What's it with lying these days? Yeah, I'm a good liar, but really? I was mad, frustrated, happy because I finally broke up with Bon, I think? sad because I lost Pete... Well... Maybe not yet. I sprinted out of my room and to Pete's.  
>"Let me in, Hun." I said controlling my anger. He opened the door. I slapped his face. He grabbed my shirt, the lower part of it, and flung me onto his bed. He checked for anyone in the hallway. No one. He locked his door.<p>

"What was that for!" He shouted letting it all out. He looked good when he was angry.  
>"That you would DARE think I would cheat on you! He was there for help. He has been having fugues. Do you know what that is or do I have to explain?" I shouted at him. I'm so much louder. He was looking at me with love and hate in his eyes. Maybe I look good when I'm angry too. Cool.<br>"I know what it is! I'm not stupid, you jerk!" He was seriously getting mad. And really good looking. His eyes were burning brightly.  
>"Then why did you think he was kissing me when clearly we were standing two feet away from each other?" I said stepping closer so I could get in his face.<br>"Because he is taller than you!" He yelled and stepped closer. We were having a seducing fight. Let's see who broke down first.  
>"Only by an inch!" I shouted I was in his face with our noses touching. I had to stand on the tips of my toes.<br>"Only an inch or are you just that short?" He said. No one calls me short except for my mommy! We joke about it. She's only two inches taller. But Pete is four inches taller than me and I'm still growing.  
>"I am not short, punk. If you think I am, just go to Val and see if she's taller!" I think if we got any closer we would walk through each other. Thank goodness he gave in. I was running out of insults. He ripped out my hair tie and spun me around. I don't know why the hair tie, though I did really want to hurt him, too. I forced my mouth onto his.<br>"I hate you." I said.  
>"I hate you, too."<br>"Just because of this doesn't mean I forgive you." I said kissing him again.  
>"Nor do I." He said shoving me against the wall. Hey! I have an idea. Let's see how many times I get pushed against a wall! Once in the beginning and once here. Twice. And I was twice as mad for it. I turned and shoved him into the wall, but harder.<br>"You've got guts, kid." He growled. This went on for some time. I got to hitting him and he got to biting me. 20 minutes later we were out of breath. I was bleeding from my lip and two fingers. He was bleeding from the nose and mouth. We had blood smeared all over our clothes. My pajamas were red, so it was okay. His were black which was okay, too. I was so tired. We cleaned up in his small bathroom. While he was washing his face and hands, I fell onto his bed and fell asleep. In the morning, I was still in his bed, but he was on the floor. I woke him up and invited him on the bed. We just talked until it was time for breakfast. I went to my room and got a shower and got dressed.

I felt so sore. Not just my lip and fingers, but my neck and back felt like blah. I walked stiffly to the table where we were to eat breakfast. Pete had a room right between Pam and Lona so they were wondering what all the noise was. I said I'd tell them later if I could talk, because of my swollen lip. Pete was aching, too. The side of his jaw was swollen. Ouch. I hate myself. Self-loathing. My Own Worst Enemy. And also since it was Monday: Monday Morning by Fleetwood Mac and Manic Monday by the Bangles. Manic Monday- Sunday sure was my fun day. I ate some scrambled eggs and toast with butter. I couldn't chew that well. I grabbed Pam and Lona and took them to my room after breakfast. We had to pack our things. They did it the night before, but I couldn't. I told them why.  
>"That's why you have the..." Pam said pointing to my lip, which wasn't that big anymore. I nodded.<br>"Geez. That must have been some fight." Lona said. "Pete's back is sore." I blushed. I scratched him there, too. I nodded grudgingly. They were helping me pack because we had to go and hand in our room keys. I sighed when I saw blood on Pete's room's floor when I passed. Some night it had been. He's such a man. Not sleeping on the bed. But then, that would have been awkward. I hopped into the backseat of the car with Pete and Lona on the sides of me. I was holding Pete's hand tightly reminding him of the night before. He squeezed back.

Resa drove us to the Jackson Visitors Center on 111 E. Capitol Street. I knew where we were going to be going. There was a statue out front. I couldn't tell what it was from far away, except that there was three statue people doing something. Resa parked along the curb. There was a post that you put in money for so many hours. She put a spell on it so it would always say we put money in for two hours. We walked up to the statue. It was a picture of three people two women and one man. The woman in the middle was kneeling on one knee. The woman on the right was holding a palm leaf across the man's chest and was kneeling on both knees. The man on the left was holding a palm leaf on his left side with his left hand. His right arm was draped across the middle woman's lap.  
>"Does this one take us down?" Pam asked.<br>"No, actually, it takes us up." Resa said.  
>"Up? Air magic?" I asked looking at Pete.<br>"Kind of." Resa said. She blew on the right woman's palm leaf and it moved. She told us all to blow on it. We did. Then we walked up the stairs to the Jackson Visitors Center. When we got to the top, the doors changed. Instead of dark wood, they were a silvery metal. They opened to let us in. There were stairs or you could take the elevator. Pam took the stairs and the rest of us took the elevator. We waited 20 seconds then the doors opened. We stepped out onto a fluffy carpet. Wait. It wasn't a carpet. We stepped onto clouds. I wondered how they could support us. I didn't really care. Then Pam joined us. She wasn't even out of breath.  
>"Here." She said then gasped when she looked down because she saw us doing it.<p>

"Alright, stop gaping and walk this way." Resa said after a moment. I just realized this had to do with air magic. But she didn't have air magic, she had earth magic. Pete had air. In Miami, we went underground. Hmm. Did they switch? I made note to ask Pete later, but I never got to ask him. We walked around a bit, then we went to Resa's house. It was just like Pete's house, but with four rooms. Pete and Mick. Val said she wanted bunk with Resa for now. Pam and Lona. And me to myself. They all knew what went on between me and Pete by now, so they let me have the room to myself and if Pete wanted to join me, he could. We unpacked everything (conveniently our suitcases were put on our beds from the car by magic) and gathered in the living room.  
>"Alright." I started. "Val and I need to go research some spells. Resa is there a library?"<br>"Yes, but there is only one spell they don't know because I made it. It's a concept really. All you need to do is imagine something and it will happen. They don't have imaginations. It's one thing you must give up to be in the counsel. They need to be realistic, so no imagination."  
>"But you're in the counsel." Pam said.<br>"Not really. I'm just a guard and guards need their imaginations so they can keep up with modern crimes."  
>"Okay. Will you teach is the concept after I go shopping. I need to and Pam and Lona and Mick and you, Resa. We need to shop. Now." Val all but grabbed them by the collar of their shirts and left with them. So, just me and Pete. Oh geez. It's going to end up like Sunday. I mean, oh goodie...<p> 


	13. Chapter 13

"I want to do something with you." Pete said. Okay, that could mean some things and it could mean other things that I don't plan on doing until I'm older.  
>"L-like what?" I asked embarrassed by my thoughts. He seemed to catch on.<br>"Oh, no, nothing like that." He pulled me to my room and made me lay down on my back and take off my shoes. He kneeled on my bed and started rubbing my feet. A massage? Cool.  
>"What's this for?" I asked while he worked his way up my calf and started on my other leg.<br>"You don't know?" What was he talking about?  
>"I only know this is really good." I said looking at him.<br>"Thanks, birthday girl." He said. Birthday girl? Oh! Oh, my! I totally forgot about my birthday, again! That's three years in a row now. Darn it.  
>"Oh, man. I forgot. Again. Sorry. Now I appreciate this more. And that's why Val wanted to go shopping." I said. Yes, my birthday. April 27, 1992. So I'm 18, now.<br>"Yeah. This is my present." He kissed my knee and told me to roll over. "Your bra strap will get in the way." I blushed deeply. How embarrassing.  
>"I got it." I said quietly. I unhooked it with my shirt on and took it off with my shirt still on. I threw it on the floor and lay down again. He started kneading my neck and upper back. I groaned and sighed. He was good at this.<br>"Hmm. Size D." He said looking over at the floor.  
>"Oh, shut up." I growled and blushed deeper. Any deeper and I would be purple, not red.<br>"Yes, well. You have a lot of knots." He said.  
>"I don't let people massage me. I'm very ticklish." I squirmed a bit because he hit a soft spot.<br>"I can see." He said going to the middle of my back. I got the goose bumps. We were silent for awhile.  
>"I hope you be careful." He said.<br>"Huh?" I asked.  
>"When you are dueling the counsel members."<br>"Of course I will be. I am not organized, but I'm careful. That trait picks up for the unorganized one." I said. He moved to my lower back. Any lower and he would be on my butt and I wouldn't allow that.  
>"I could help you. I know a few nasty spells." He said.<br>"I don't want to kill them. I want to make them unconscious." I am generous, too.  
>"Fine. I do really want to kill some of them, though." He said. He stopped on my back and he sat on it instead. His knees were along my sides. He took my hair tie out and fluffed my hair a bit. He started on my temples.<br>"Why the hair tie, again?" I asked.  
>"It relaxes your hair. It gets strained when you put it back that tight. And I like how thick, wavy, and curly it is. Oh, and I like the smell of the shampoo you use." He said.<br>"Mm, thanks." I said sort of falling asleep. He flipped me over with him still sitting on me (Ow. Just kidding) and massaged my lips with his. He spread my hair out on my pillow so he could see the waves. This was getting weird. He massaged my head with his fingertips and kissed me again. He got up and told me to put my bra back on and go to the kitchen. I did what he said. The kitchen was dark. Oh no...

"SURPRISE!" Everyone shouted. I screamed. I got scared even though I knew what was coming. Val laughed at while everyone looked at me in shock.  
>"Sorry." I said. "I get scared when people surprise me like that." Everyone forgot about it and started singing Happy Birthday after lighting the candles on my cake. Vanilla cake and chocolate icing. Yum! I blew out the candle when they were done singing. My wish was to win the duel. I cut the cake and gave everyone a piece and one to myself. It was great for a bought cake up in the clouds. Next were presents. I told everyone they shouldn't have given me anything, but I did like gifts. Val and Resa got me two pairs of earrings. Pam and Lona got me a gold necklace. Mick got me new skater shoes. Pete gave me that massage which I didn't think was over yet. He moved in with me, so we had time. We watched a few movies in the living room and then went to bed. But I couldn't get sleep right away. Pete wasn't done massaging my lips. I finally fell asleep. I can't face people who are sleeping next to me. I just can't let them stare at me. I was on the left side closest to the door. I can't sleep on the side not closest to the door. It bothers me. I had a dreamless sleep.<p>

Next day, we had to prepare what we were going to do. Val said she would do every spell she could think of. I just stuck with Resa's concept. I just needed to stay confident. I needed to know that I was going to win and use that confidence to power the concept spell. Oh, by the way, spells don't need words. It's like the concept, but not as fierce and not as general. More like you know what you want to do and it happens. But only for minor things. If you wanted a fire you would get a small one. If you wanted a flower you would get a dandelion. Like that. I was practicing with Pete. He was my dummy. I could do anything, but then had to put it right. I made him cross eyed and glued his mouth together. I unmade him cross eyed, but not his mouth.  
>"I like you like this." I told him in a whisper like it was a secret.<br>"Mmmmm." He tried to say something, but I didn't know what.  
>"What was that, dear?" I asked him.<br>"Mmmm mm mmmm." He tried to say again. I laughed. I kissed him on the cheek. Then unglued his mouth.  
>"Nicole Prentue, I hate you." He sounded like he meant it, but then he laughed. "Just don't do that again," he kissed my cheek.<br>"I can't promise anything." I said. We went into the living room to watch Val and Resa for a while. Pam and Mick came back from exploring Cloud City. I like the name because it was in Star Wars. I'm a geek, I know. I begged them to let me go explore, they said it was okay. I went with Pete. It just hit me that Lona had no one. I had Pete. Val had James. Pam had Mick. I invited her along and she came. I told her I was going to find her someone. She was the one who usually got boyfriends all the time. So anyway, we walked to a store. While Pete was looking at shirts, I got to talk to Lona.

"What's up?" I asked.  
>"Oh nothing. I've got a lot to think about." She said.<br>"Oh, don't give me that. I know you pretty well. What's on your mind?"  
>"Well. Nothing actually. I'm lost. I feel like I don't belong here. You guys are having way fun," We speak like that sometimes, "and I'm by myself."<br>"That's why I'm going to find someone for you. I know your type. You liked Pete before us."  
>"Yeah, I did." She admitted.<br>"So, I know who you like. I might pick someone at the next place where they are on the ground, but I will find you someone." I just had to or I'd feel way guilty.  
>"Thanks, Nicki." She hugged me. Pete bought some red shirts and tan shorts for himself. Just like me. Cool! We went to a café. We ate dinner and drank some hot chocolate. We're such kids! Then we went back home. It was close to 9 p.m. I got a shower and went to bed. I was facing the door when Pete took my hair out again.<br>"Okay. Would you just stop doing that? I know you like it, but I hate putting my hair down. So, please..." I told Pete.  
>"Okay, sorry." I felt him turn around. We were back to back now. I turned around and hugged him around his waist.<br>"I love you, Hun."  
>"I hate you, too." He grumbled.<br>"I love you." I said again.  
>He sighed. "I love you more."<br>"Doubt it." I tested him. I let him turn around in my arms. He kissed me.  
>"Now, good-night."<p>

I turned around and fell asleep. I wanted to try the connection thing with my dreams to Bon's. It worked. I picked my shed that we used to go in. I had to help him somehow.  
>"Bon. Has it happened recently?" I asked hugging him.<br>"No, but James is acting weird. He isn't himself. Don't tell Val, but I think it's him controlling me. I can't stop him, because I'm just a vampire."  
>"Oh no. Well, what magic does James have? Fire, air, earth, or water?" I asked.<br>"Fire." He said. "Look I have to go. Bye."  
>"Bye." I barely got the word out. Fire magic? Oh no.<p>

I woke up in a cold sweat. The covers were totally pushed off of me and my shirt was pulled half way up my stomach. My shorts were giving me a wedgie. That meant I was tossing and turning. Something was wrong here. I sat up after grabbing my glasses. I looked over at where Pete should have been. He was there. I got up and started walking through all the rooms. Pam and Mick were okay. Val and Resa were okay. Lona. Where was Lona? I almost tripped over myself trying to get to the living room. Oh, there she was. I sat down on the floor next to her rocking body.

"Lona?" I asked suspiciously.  
>In an echo of her own voice, Lona said, "One of us will die. During a battle. The others will live. One pair will break apart. Two pairs will stay together. One will find solace in a new found friend." Lona seemed to pass out. Did these things hurt her?<br>"Lona? Lona, honey? Wake up." I said anxious to see if she could wake up. She stirred a bit.  
>"Pete! Pam! Mick! Val! Resa!" I shouted to everyone. Pete was first out looking stunned to be woken up now at one in the morning. Val came next because she would be scared for me calling like that. Then Pam, Mick, and Resa.<br>"She had another prediction. But she fainted this time. Do those things hurt her?" I asked anyone and everyone.  
>"Sometimes." Val said while the boys picked Lona up and put her gently on the couch. I felt her pulse on her neck. Normal, and slow as it is when we are asleep.<br>"She's sleeping." Pam said doing the same thing when I didn't say anything.  
>"Lona, dear. Wake up." Resa said loudly. Lona started to come around.<br>"Wha-at I'm sleeping'" She said like her normal self.  
>"Oh, God." I let slip. It was acceptable. I was holding in my breath. I let it out in a huff. I hugged Lona real tightly.<br>"Oh, my Lona." I repeated twice. I squeezed then let her go.  
>"Um, sorry. What happened?" She asked what was on everyone's mind. I told them her prediction. I didn't tell them that I knew who would break up. Val and James. I knew Pete and I wouldn't split for sure. Or would we? I wasn't sure about the new friend part or the other pair. Pam or Mick or Lona would die. Oh no. You can't worry about that now, I told myself, it might not be one of them. We all went to bed again. When I was in Pete's arms I started crying. I wouldn't tell him why, though. And so I cried myself to sleep.<p>

I slept in so late that I skipped breakfast and lunch. The duel was at 4 so I had three hours. I got a shower because of the cold sweat from last night and somehow I didn't feel clean. I was just trying to wash off the prediction. I couldn't help that. I ate some peanut butter crackers with milk. That's good stuff. Then I lazed around and watched a movie. I was trying not to think of the duel. When the movie was over (Finding Nemo) I couldn't find anything to do except read. I was reading the 6th Harry Potter book, Half-Blood Prince, by J.K. Rowling when Val knocked on my door and said it was time. I got the worst case of Butterflies in the world! So I started playing Not Alone from A Very Potter Musical. That made me feel better. Just a little bit. A tiny bit, but better. We walked through a magnificent garden and through the huge doors of the counsel house. It was a pretty big house. Three floors, bottom was the main room for living and playing games, second floor was for sleeping and using the bathroom, and third floor was for duels. We walked up two flights of stairs and looked at our arena. It was oval shaped. There were some square and rectangle obstacles, but other than that it was made of steel so it could withstand any attack. There were seats around the oval for spectators. This was some house. We walked to our side and started getting ready.

"Okay. You will be fighting Counsel Master Telma and Counsel Master Wing. They are water and air." Resa told us. Oh great. Counsel MASTERS! Oh, geez.  
>"Remember the defense spell." Pete whispered to me. Right. Think protect. Okay, I've got this. We stepped into the ring. They stepped into the ring. Someone said "Go!" off from the side. I sprinted to a barrier when three ice darts flew past my head. I stopped. No one starts a fight with me and stops it. I stop it. I concentrated on moving and my confidence rose. I had to keep moving, so I was running around from here to there. Fire circle around them. One can't feel a leg- the other, an arm. One's eyes are crossed, the others mouth is glued shut. I kept thinking little things like this while Val did more complicated spells to make them unconscious. I could have done this forever, I thought until I felt a pain in my thigh. Ice dart. Man! I was limping, but still moving. Val took down one. I was getting closer to the other and he was focused on Val. I sneaked behind him and called for a metal foldable chair. I gripped the legs and slammed it on his head.<br>"That's for the ice darts, you pig!" I said loudly. I melted the ice, but I was still bleeding. Resa came over and healed me up with some painful magic.  
>"That was so like wrestling." Lona said.<br>"Dude, yeah it was. I finally get to use my strength." I said flexing my muscles for emphasis.  
>"You're gonna be fine, mate." Resa said in her twangy Australian accent.<br>"Thanks." I said. I tried to walk to it hurt too much. Pete picked me up like Mick did on the boat, baby style.  
>"Put me down." I said.<br>"No, you big baby." Pete said. Everyone laughed. He kissed me in front of everyone, too. They cheered. Ugh! I was blushing again. Pete put me down. Ow! He half carried me downstairs to one of the couches on the bottom floor. The Head Counsel Master was there and so was the Superior Head Counsel Master. Or like the vice president and president of the counsel. They said we have done something that many couldn't have done, because they lacked the connection between us. Our connection goes deeper than friendship. It's in our blood. I was totally proud of this. I knew it, but could never say it out loud. I was proud. There. I said it out loud in my head. He went on to say that we would have their full cooperation in the full battle. I guess he made predictions, too, because I didn't know there was going to be a full battle. We left the, um, 'house' and went to our regular one.

"Guess it's goodbye then, Resa." I said hugging her.  
>"Don't worry. You'll see me again."<br>"Bye, mate. Don't lose your imagination." Pete said.  
>"See you later, I suppose." Pam said.<br>"Goodbye." Mick said.  
>"I would to say goodbye in Australian, but I don't know how. So bye." Lona said.<br>"It's just goodbye for me, kid." Resa said.  
>"Bye, Theresa." Val likes formal greetings and saying-goodbye-ings.<br>"Stay smart, Val." She walked us to the elevator and got on with us. Pam didn't take the stairs this time. We got off 21 seconds later, a second more than last time or I was just nervous and kept trying to recount. She walked us to our car and said goodbye for the final time. We drove off to the airport where Pam's dad's friend was there for us. We loaded our car on and sat down for the takeoff. I was exhausted, hurting from my leg, and, well, dead tired. I fell asleep. I slept for the whole ride which was 10 hours. I'm a bum. Pete woke me up. We had traveled 604.6 miles to Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. We drove out of the plane, out of the airport and to a restaurant, because we were starving and it was only 7 at night. We went to an Italian restaurant. We ordered what we wanted, I got baked ziti, Val got gnocchi, Pam got pizza with Mick and Lona. We had sat at a table for 7 so there was one extra seat. Half way through our meals someone came and sat down. It was a girl that was our age... Well, I have to say everyone we meet is our age, except for those old people. That doesn't make sense... Oh well. She was about 5 feet 6 inches tall and had red hair. She was pale with freckles. Her eyes kept changing from brown to green to blue to violet then back to brown. Strange, but very cool. She was wearing skinny jeans, converse and a deep purple shirt that set off her red hair. Mick's mouth was hanging open and Pete dropped his fork. Men... She just sat down and started a conversation.


	14. Chapter 14

"Hi, guys." She said to all of us.  
>"Who are you?" I asked bluntly. Val glared at me again.<br>"She's Iris." Mick said.  
>"A Moon Spirit." Pete filled in for Mick.<br>"Oh. Sorry." I said embarrassed. She must have been special.  
>"It's quite all right, Nicki." How does everyone know our names?<br>"What are you doing down here? Aren't you supposed to be with the other moon spirits, if you don't mind me asking," Val asked politely. I rolled my eyes at her.  
>"I don't. I have come to help you. The next people you are going to meet worship us Moon Spirits. They are all trained in water magic. They are real peaceful, but if we don't have them then the humans can attack from the sea and win. If they heard what I had to say, then they'll listen to me. Let me come with you." She said. Everyone was silent. I considered she was our guide, so yeah, she should come, but she might have been a non-innocent bystander who just happened to see us. But I seemed to trust her.<br>"Okay, you can come. Do you want anything to eat? Pam's buying." I said.  
>"I'm always buying." Pam said. It was true.<br>"No, thanks, but this one is on me." Iris said. When we were done, she paid for our dinner. We hopped into the car and I drove to where she told me to go. I read their sign. Rose Hill Burrial Park. A graveyard. We parked next to the curb. We could leave the car there, so it was okay.  
>"Okay. We go into the graveyard and try to find a headstone with the name Wisteria Moon." Iris said. Cool name. I imagined the concept spell and used my fear of darkness to power it. I imagined that my eyes were flashlights. I blinked and they were! Just like in Robots.<p>

We searched all around. Thirty minutes passed, Pam yelled from somewhere off to my right. I started to run, but tripped over a headstone.  
>"Just kidding!" Pam yelled back. My leg was on fire. I made a funny! Okay. I looked at the headstone I tripped over. The name was covered by vines. I ripped some away. Wisteria Moon. These eye lights work well, I thought.<br>"No, she's here!" I called to everyone. They came over.  
>"Well, done." Iris said while Pete helped me up. It was my leg wound from that pig! Why did it still hurt?<br>"What's wrong?" Iris asked me. I told her about the duel and how pig face had thrown ice darts at me.  
>"Oh. I could fix that up." She said. I let her put her hand over my wound in my thigh. I wanted to pull away, because that was kind of awkward for a girl to put her hand on another girl's thigh, but I could feel the pain ebbing away.<br>"Thanks." I said standing up myself.  
>"No problem. Now everyone, rub her last name, then step into the elevator that you will see." She rubbed the name Moon.<br>We all did it. An elevator appeared next to her headstone. Another elevator. These people are really up with the technology. We stepped into it. We were squished with seven people in here. Instead of going up or down we went sideways. Okay, they were a little past our technology since I've never been in an elevator moving sideways. Then, I thought about how they could have used magic. Oh. We stopped suddenly and we flew towards the right wall. I was on the right wall. Squish! Ow! At least 250 pounds of fleshy people squished me. I got the breath knocked out of me. I also got my face pushed up against the wall and, well, everything else too. They quickly backed up.  
>"Sorry." Pam said.<br>"Are you all right?" Pete asked. He pushed everyone out of the way ("Hey!" Mick cried out when he got shoved into Lona) to come to me. Pushy...  
>"Yeah, I'm fine. Sorry Mick."<br>"S'okay." Mick mumbled.  
>"Watch it." I told Pete.<br>"I have to protect you." Okay, now he was way out of line.  
>"I can protect myself, bud. I don't need your help." I said.<br>"Guys. Can you wait until you get a room?" Val said. She thought this was going to turn out like that Sunday... But it wasn't. I'm sexist. I said it before and I'll say it again.  
>"I don't need a man's help. I can help myself. I'm stronger than most men. I can handle myself just fine without one." I said getting really defensive.<br>"I doubt you can, kid. You need me." Yeah, right, I thought. The doors opened and everyone quickly left. They started walking to a hotel. I was too busy being mad that I didn't notice what we were on. We were walking on water. The Creatures around here were all about the sea. There even was a spot for the Creature from the Black Lagoon. But I was too busy arguing with Pete to notice. I did later, though. We reached the house. I went to a room that had two beds. I wasn't sleeping next to him anymore.  
>"There's your bed and there's mine." I told him angrily.<br>"What? Can't I choose my bed? Why don't I just sleep somewhere else?"  
>"Then go! I'll let Lona sleep there and you can go sleep with Mick." I shouted. I'm like always angry. Sheesh.<br>"Fine maybe I will."  
>"Fine!"<br>"Fine."  
>"Fine!"<br>"Fine."  
>"Will you just go?" I punched him in the chest and he staggered back. He slammed the door really hard when he left. I sat down on my bed and sighed. He's such a butt! He doesn't know how I feel about him helping me. I'm not a baby. I can take care of myself. Then, I just realized everything bad happens to me. Lona came in saying she would be happy to bunk with me. I said cool. She asked me why I was acting like I was. I told her I'm under a lot of pressure.<br>"We'll share it with you if you told us." Lona said trying to make me feel better.

I stayed in my room for the rest of the afternoon. Then I tried to go to sleep at night, but I couldn't. It just didn't seem right. Pete wasn't with me. Even if we slept with a pillow between us. I didn't feel right. So, I went to the spare room to sleep. I don't know why, but he was in there still awake looking at the sealing with a pillow next to him. Next to the pillow was an empty space. For me. No way, I'm not going in. I'm not giving in. Lona shook me awake. I was dreaming. Oh. (Secretly, I didn't want to admit to myself, I was going to give in.)  
>"You talk in your sleep, you know that?" She said sleepily. She sat at the foot of my bed.<br>"What was I saying," I asked just as sleepily. It must have been the middle of the night.  
>"You kept saying 'I need'. Nothing else, just 'I need'."<br>"Well, I want a lot of things, but I don't need anything." I said.  
>"I know what you need, but you are too stubborn to admit it."<br>"I don't need him at all."  
>"That's not what I was going to say." She tricked me! Stupid reverse psychology thing.<br>"Thanks." I said. "Now you know how desperate I am."  
>"I was going to say you need someone that you can love and depend on." Lona is really wise sometimes.<br>"Oh." I said stupidly.  
>"Just try not to be so hard on him. He needs you, too." Lona kissed me on the top of my head and said good morning. It was a bit past 12 a.m. or midnight. I fell back asleep thinking about all the time we spent together. Meaning Lona, Pam, Val, and me. We had some sweet times. Always joking about Lona and her boyfriends and teasing Val by asking her dumb questions. We would laugh together and cry together. It was so fun back then. But now we are making new friends. Resa was one cool chick with the Australian accent, Iris is the nicest Moon Spirit, Queen Sally and Dr. K were the best rulers ever, Mick was awesome for Pam, and Pete was... he was... I have to stop thinking about him! Everything around me points to him!<p>

In the late morning, we went to a church or what looked like one. It was where they worshiped the Moon Spirits? I guessed. I was correct. All along the walls were decorated with flowers and offerings. Iris said they did enjoy the offerings. There were even some pictures of them, but none of Iris. I asked her why. She said she never came to Earth before this. Except when she was a kid. We barged in on a ceremony. Oops. Well, we had important business.  
>"Sorry to intrude on your thingy, but we have a message." Val said. We planned this.<br>"From a Moon Spirit herself." Pete said. I looked away and blocked him out when he said this. I was farthest from him.  
>"To tell you..." Lona started.<br>"A message from Iris herself..." Pam continued.  
>"In Spirit person." I finished. Those were the only things I was allowed to say during this whole thing. They said I was not emotionally stable. What the heck did that mean? I was fine. They are the ones who had problems. But then, I did have a plan to save their plan from boringness. I was going to tell them. Val was supposed to say the message before Iris appeared, but I planned to say it.<p>

She started, "The message is..-"  
>Then I cut in, "You guys need to help us out in the great battle or the Creatures will lose since we have a spy somewhere giving away our information. We need you guys to watch the seas." That was pretty much it. Val slapped me in the face really hard. Now I was emotionally unstable. I saw Pete step forward a bit, but then thought better of it. Jerks! Both of them. I went to the back of the group. Iris presented herself. I was stuck in my own thoughts. I didn't notice Pete was there until he poked me in the arm.<br>"Are you okay?" He was done his part.  
>"Fine." I said quickly and angrily.<br>"I understand you like to keep pain to yourself. I know your boundaries, too. Will you take a walk with me?"  
>"No."<br>"Then get some coffee with me." It didn't seem like I had a choice.  
>"Fine." We left quietly through the front doors. They didn't see us leave. We walked in silence until we got to a café. A sign on the door said: me casa es su casa. My house is your house. I'd like to change it a bit and say to Pete: me cama es su cama. My bed is your bed. But I didn't. I was still weird about the argument. Pete bought me a decaf cup of coffee and I put milk and sugar into it. We sat at a round table for two.<br>"How do you feel?" I asked. He knew what I meant.  
>"Lonely." Well that sums it up.<br>"Desperately lonely." I said talking about myself.  
>"How is Lona? You talk in your sleep."<br>"Oh, I woke her up in the middle of the night. She told me I did. Why didn't you?"  
>"I enjoy listening to you. You talk about your day. It's fun to listen to." He said smiling. I grinned.<br>"Yeah, well. That could be embarrassing. Like last night Lona..." I told him about that night. I sipped some coffee and looked at him.

"Mhm." He mumbled. He seemed distracted. "Do you still like Bon?"  
>"He's a friend." I said hesitantly. I didn't know what my feelings were about him. I knew I was scared of him and scared for him. I was worried.<br>"Just a friend?" Pete asked.  
>"Well, I'm not sure. I thought he was bad, but it turns out it was J- someone else." I almost said James. I couldn't tell anyone yet. "He was so nice to me. He asked for my help. I have to help him."<br>"So, technically, you are cheating. On me and on him." Pete said. What was his point?  
>"Not really, because I broke up with him." I was nervous now.<br>"Are you sure or did he just get mad and leave before you could say 'sorry, it's over'."  
>"Well, yes I didn't get to because you came in. Your point?"<br>"I want you to sever all ties with him."  
>"He needs my help. I can't do that." Selfish jerk! I thought.<br>"Well, I need your help to get him out of our lives."  
>"Is that why you wanted me here? To make me do something I don't like."<br>"No."  
>"Yes, you did. I'm gone." I stood up and left. I half walked, half ran to the hotel. I threw out my coffee, because now it didn't really taste like coffee. I flopped down on my bed. I was going to make Pete jealous and to make him see I wasn't letting Bon go. I had to fall asleep. I decided to cry myself to sleep. The slap still stung my cheek and I was upset about Pete acting like he was. What if Pete was being taken over by James, too? I couldn't answer myself because I fell asleep. I brought Bon in first.<p>

"Bon!" I ran and hugged him tightly.  
>"Nicki? How did I get here? It's the middle of the day."<br>"I figured that you can connect to anyone on a subconscious level." I brought Pete in now. It took half a minute, but he came slowly.  
>"Smart girl." Bon said not realizing Pete was behind him.<br>"Thanks." I still had my arms around him. I looked pointedly at Pete then kissed Bon. I looked at Pete and his face was full of rage.  
>"But I thought?" Bon said unsure of himself.<br>"No, silly." I was trying to be playful, but it was kind of forced.  
>"Oh, well why did you want me here?"<br>"I found out who was controlling you." I wished Pete away and he went away.  
>"Who?" He asked eagerly.<br>"James. He is a full blown wizard. His power is fire, which Lona predicted." I told him my facts.  
>"But he was always by my side. He was as frightened as I was when I left him standing there going to do someone's bidding."<br>"Exactly. We can't control people if they aren't next to us. We put a spell on you when we are next to you, then you can be as far as China and we will still have control. But first you need to start with the person next to you." I felt a little tug on my conscious side of things. Someone was trying to wake me up.  
>"It explains that, then." He said trying to think of anything else.<br>"Look I have to go. I'll catch up with you later. You will be at the great battle?"  
>"Of course." I kissed him and woke up.<p>

"Get up, sleepy head." Val was rocking me back and forth.  
>"I'm up!" I said.<br>"Look, I'm sorry I slapped you. You were going to ruin our presentation. And I really wanted to say what you said." She said.  
>"It's okay. Just never say I'm emotionally something."<br>"Unstable?" She suggested.  
>"Yeah. Emotionally unstable. I wasn't. I was thinking about things. Deep things." She knew what deep meant. Things that couldn't be explained.<br>"Yeah, well. I'm sorry." She kissed my still stinging cheek.  
>"It's no problem. So, what time is it? Where is everyone?" I just noticed what she was wearing. A dress?<br>"We are going to a fancy restaurant tonight. It's about 7." She was wearing a long, deep blue dress. She had black, dangling earrings in and black flats. She hated heels. She left and I got dressed in a red dress that flared out at the bottom, but was tight from the waist up. It had no sleeves or straps, so I had to watch what I did. I wanted to make Pete jealous. I succeeded. He wouldn't even look at me. I wore black flats like Val. We walked to the restaurant. It was called: Alli's Place. Cool name, I thought. We sat down at a rectangular table. I was in the middle of Val and Lona. Pete was across from me, unfortunately. We didn't plan it this way. Pam and Mick wanted to sit together, but towards an end and Iris wanted an end. I kept my feet tucked in under my chair and my eyes cast down at my plate. He acted like everything was fine between us. The only time he spoke to me is when he commented on how he liked my dress. He looked like he wanted to talk to me. We ordered dinner and ate, then ordered dessert and ate that. We walked home. I grabbed my pj's and went to the bathroom. I took off my dress and put my Phillies pajamas on. I started brushing my teeth. Someone grabbed the handle of the door and turned it when I was done rinsing out my mouth. They came in and shut the door. I spun around. The sink was 4 yards in front of the door. The shower was to the right if you just came in and the toilet was to the left. It was Pete.

"Why did you come in here?" I asked. "I could have been taking a shower or using the toilet!"  
>"Sshh. I had to talk to you in private." He whispered.<br>"Quickly, then." I said not caring if anyone found us in here.  
>"Well, we were talking in the café and then everything went blank. I don't know how I got here. I remember being in your dream with Bon. But only the half where I left. I don't know what happened. That might have been a fugue." He said like he was scared.<br>"Well, then. Stay with someone all the time and always look around you. Stay alert and get out of the bathroom." I was a bit annoyed that he didn't see me kiss Bon. Next time? I asked myself. I felt like there wasn't going to be a next time. Then there was the thought that James was right there with us. Creepy. I finished in the bathroom and went to bed. I told Lona goodnight and slept. 


	15. Chapter 15

They told me they had the Moon Spirit worshipers' sacred promise that they would help fight. It was time to leave Iris. We all said goodbye. We went in the elevator and I was sure to be on the right side. I prepared myself to be thrown to the left. Unfortunately, the thing didn't have such a sharp stop like when going to Water World. That's what I decided to name the place. I named it after the actual Water World because that place was awesome. I haven't been there, but I heard of it. It sounded cool, too. We got off. I was feeling pretty down that I didn't get to squish Pete since he was on the left side. We got out and went to the car. I drove to Genaurdi's and bought cupcakes and candles. I didn't need matches, because I had the power of fire! Aw, yeah! I drove to the airport and we drove on board and sat down. I took the cupcakes and candles with me. We took off. First thing I did was put nineteen candles in one cupcake and hand it to Val. I gave everyone else one candle and a cupcake.

"Well, Val. You are 19 today. I couldn't do anything special because we are on a plane, so I had to make up for it somehow."  
>"By killing a cupcake with candles," Val asked.<br>"Yes. Exactly." I lit everyone's candles with a movement focused on my lungs. As long as they burned I had to move my lungs. Which are always moving. We sang Happy Birthday and blew out our candles. We ate our cake.  
>"Thanks, Nicki." Val said. Lona got up to hug her. We all ended up hugging her.<br>"Welcome." I said. I talked to Pam for two hours, then went to sleep. It takes a day and sixteen hours to get to Salem, Oregon. I wanted to see how long I could sleep. It was 2,509.5 miles. Very long. I only slept for thirteen hours. I went to the bathroom, then I played cards with Val, Pete (ew), and Mick for three hours. I won almost every time we played Trash or Tongues (you just stick out your tongue. Nothing else.) I fell asleep for six hours. Much more reasonable than thirteen hours. I talked to Lona about fashions, which I don't really like, but I talked anyway, for two and a half hours. I went to the bathroom and sat back down to eat a cupcake. We all had one. I felt tired again, so I dozed off for five hours. I really slept on this trip, I thought after waking up. I asked them if it meant anything. They said it didn't. I trusted them. For two hours we talked about anything and everything, ranging from clothes to movies to shoes to sports. Lona and Pam were held responsible for bringing up clothes and shoes. Mick and Pete liked sports, which I got into when they talked about baseball. Val and I liked to talk about movies. Who was in them, what did you think of this part, did you like the music. That sort of thing. We finally landed and we got off the plane and into pouring rain. Val predicted this because one of her friends was from Washington State. She said that Washington and Oregon were really wet, so we put up the hood of the car before going out. I drove us to a hotel. They gave us a suite that had four bedrooms connecting to a living room which was connected to a kitchen, as well. There were bathrooms connecting to the bedrooms. It was already paid for.

Who did this for us? It might be our new guide. I would bet the car on it. We walked down to where the clerk pointed us to go. Then we went through a door and stepped out into the street. What room was this? I joked with myself. A dark figure across the street beckoned us to go over to him. It was definitely a guy. We walked over to him. He had blonde hair and blue eyes. He was four inches taller than me like Pete. He was cute. I could make a lot of people jealous with him, or, you know, just one person, in particular.  
>"Who are you?" I asked stepping forward and giving him my best smile. He smiled back.<br>"I'm Luke. Your new guide. Sorry about the hotel thing. I needed to get you guys, but I can't be seen in light."  
>"What do you mean in light?" I asked. Why wasn't anybody else talking to him. I looked over at Val. She looked like she was going to run.<br>"I'm a hellhound. Everyone would freak."  
>"Why don't you have a dog head?" I asked.<br>"You can see the real me, because you have the power of fire. They see me with a nasty dog head that talks." He said. I couldn't see the dog head. That's good or I would have run.  
>"Follow me." He walked away with us behind him. The others didn't look too happy about going with him, but they went. I checked on Pete. He was glaring at Luke. Good. We walked to a door on the side of a building. We walked in. The buildings name was the Belcrest Memorial Park. We stopped before going out another door.<br>"Okay. Like last time look for a guy named Blaze R. Burn." He walked out into a graveyard. It was really spooky. Shadows crept on every surface. Luke who was wearing black and looked like death himself. I searched with him while everyone spread out.  
>"Hey." I whispered.<br>"Hey. Nicki, right? I've heard much about you. All the hounds in Elm Street have been talking about you. They want to meet you. I'm lucky I had this job. Once we get to Elm Street will you get a Firey with me?" He said looking down at me.  
>"What is a Firey?"<br>"A hot drink on Elm Street."  
>"Okay, sure. What is Elm Street?" I asked him. He looked shocked.<br>"Elm Street is what we call our home over here. There are more fire power places. We named ours Elm Street."  
>"Oh." I said stupidly. Duh!<br>"Over here!" Lona yelled. We ran, dodged headstones, and tripped a few times before getting to Lona. I didn't realize Luke was holding my hand from my last face full of dirt. I quickly let go. Pete was still glaring at him and now me.  
>"Okay. Touch his last name and follow me." We did as told and followed. We stepped onto an escalator. We were going down. Even farther than the earth place we went to. We hopped off of that and looked around. Fire floor, fire buildings, fire fire. This is totally my place, I thought. I might come back to live here after the war is over. We walked to a house, up some stairs and into our new home. All our suitcases were waiting for us. We unpacked. I noticed that everything was on fire, but it felt cool. It didn't burn me when I touched it. I walked to the living room where everyone else was. I sat on the fire couch with Lona and Mick. Val, Pam, and Pete took chairs.<br>"Well, what do we need to do here?" Val asked.  
>"Something really different. You need to perform with your powers to the Creatures who live here. If they like it, they will join the battle. If they don't, then they will kill the men and keep the women." Luke said happily.<br>"Oh geez." I said. Another performance. Great. The duel was a performance for our strength, this was for our creativeness.  
>"It isn't that hard to please us down here. We barely get any visitors." He said looking at me. Pete twitched a little bit. Once he stops doing things like that, then I'll go back to him. I think.<br>"It sounds hard." Pam said.  
>"And it's for our lives. What if we mess up?" Lona asked.<br>"We die." Val answered.  
>"Oh, come on. It isn't that hard if we practice. If someone messes up, then we just cover it up with a fancy move. If we fail, then we fight to the death. We don't give up. We came all this way. We can't give up now. It's time to have a little fun with our powers." I said courageously. My voice didn't even match my emotions. I was so happy here!<br>"If you think we have a choice, I'm in." Pam said.  
>"Me too." Lona agreed.<br>"Always with you." Val said.  
>"Awesome." I said, "We should split up. Val and Pete to the library, Pam, Lona, and Mick to look around town." I was going to work my magic on Luke.<br>"Luke, I need to talk to you." I said seriously. Everyone left and Luke went to his room. His room had red fire and blue fire in it. Cool.  
>"What would you like to talk about, Nicki?" He said my name differently. Longingly, I think.<br>"I think you know." I said moving closer to him.  
>"I only know one thing." He stepped up to me.<br>"What's that?" I playfully kissed his nose.  
>"You are hot." He said.<br>"I know." I made fire dance on the fingers of my right hand. I made fire dance around my body. He did it, too. We kissed. I wonder what it looked like. Was I kissing a dog's head? Or did his head change into a normal one for this? I don't know and I don't care, I thought. We stopped. I was out of breath. The fire stopped because I wasn't using my lips. His fire died out.  
>"Whoa." He said holding his head.<br>"What?" I asked concerned.  
>"I've never felt so light headed. I usually don't get light headed. Well, it's been 130 years since the last time I was." He said like I knew he was old.<br>"130 YEARS?" I asked him shocked.  
>"Well, yeah." He said like I should know.<br>"Wow. That's old... Really old." I just kissed an old guy that looked young. Cool and I'll do it again. I did do it again.  
>"I don't care." I said.<br>"That's good. Most people run away." He was seriously hurt by what they did.  
>"But you know I can't be with you. After this I'm not going to see you again." I told him.<br>"Oh. We should end it here then."  
>"One more kiss?"<br>"Ok." He agreed. I made my mouth burn with fire focusing on my lips again. He did too. We kissed. The door banged open and Pete was standing in the doorway. We didn't break apart. I could only see Pete in the mirror. He looked mad. Good. He walked over to us and threw Luke off me.  
>"She's mine!" Pete said.<br>"I am no one's except for my self's! Ugh! I belong to myself." I said poking Pete in the chest. Feels like he was working out. But when?  
>"Don't burn your pants off. It was a goodbye kiss. A fiery one, at that." Luke said smiling at me.<br>"Well, then. Goodbye, Luke." I said putting out my hand. He took it.  
>"Goodbye, Nicki." We shook on it and I left with Pete on my heels. Pete followed me into my room. He slipped in before I closed the door.<br>"What was that?" He asked very calmly.  
>"He is 130 years old. I told him I liked that. But I also said I wouldn't ever see him again. He said we should end it before it began. One more kiss and you barge in. You happy I explained?" I asked just as calmly. A civilized conversation was good to have once in a while. He sat down.<br>"Why did we have to break up? Why didn't you let me save you from nothing?" He said quietly to himself.  
>"Well, I, for one, am used to being by myself. I don't need your help. Two: I can date whoever or whatever I want. Three: I was planning on coming back, but you kept making me mad. Like tonight, I might point out." I said. He looked me in the eye. His brown eyes were sad.<br>"I ruin everything. Everything." He said putting his head in his hands. I sat beside him on the side of my bed. I was closest to the pillows.  
>"Not everything, Hun." I said honestly. "You can make a lot of people happy. Like me, if you would do what I want." He turned to look at me. Then he pushed me down on the bed.<br>"Not everything?" He asked innocently. I started laughing. I fell for the oldest joke in the book.  
>"No. Not everything." I stopped laughing. I tried to hold it in, but I burst out. He had me pinned by my shoulders, so I couldn't roll on my side. My stomach started to cramp up. I stopped laughing slowly.<br>"You done?"  
>"Yeah. I'm good now." I said.<br>"Good." He kissed me fiercely. We rolled together on the bed. I broke off and stood up. I was mad at him! So mad.  
>"I hate you." I said.<br>"Good." He said sleepily. He fell asleep on my bed. Crud. I'll just go and bunk with someone else. Pam and Mick were together, so not there. I'm leaving Luke alone. Val and Lona are together. There are no other bedrooms. It just hit me. Darn it! I have to sleep with him. That's why he is there. I'm going to have to sleep with him... Or I could sleep on the couch. Cool! I grabbed some spare covers and I slept on the flaming couch. I didn't have dinner, but I wasn't hungry. I fell asleep thinking about Pete. He could break my heart at any moment. I already broke his, I think. Or he was pretending? I don't know when I fell asleep, but I dreamed about him. We were on the couch having a chat about how we will set up our wedding. Wedding? We weren't getting married.  
>"You can wear that dress you told me about." He was saying. Dress? I really hate dresses. The scene changed. I was walking down the aisle. I couldn't control my body. I stopped at the altar. The priest was talking. I could see Val and Lona and Pam and Mick sitting in the pews.<br>The priest said, "Peter, do you take Nicole to be your lawfully wedded wife?" Pete said I do.  
>"Nicole Prentue, do you take Peter to be your lawfully wedded husband?" I heard myself say I do. Oh no! I'm too young! I'm only 18. But then, I'm an adult. Crud.<br>"You may now kiss the bride." The priest said to Pete. He kissed me. I woke up. I was on a flame bed. No one was next to me. Pete probably switched with me. I liked how the bed looked in the dark. I wonder if I could change it to blue flames. I imagined blue flames on the bed and they did change. Totally awesome. What time is it, I thought. I looked around for a clock. I found one on the side table. 7:39 a.m. Not that bad. I got up and took a shower. I dressed in my usual, red t-shirt and tan khakis. I went to the kitchen and found Val there already drinking coffee.  
>"Hey." I said getting myself some.<br>"Hi." She said taking a sip of hers. She was sitting at the kitchen table. I sat opposite from her.  
>"I have something to tell you." I wanted to tell her about James.<br>"Go ahead."  
>"It's about James. Bon has been having fugues. James and Bon might go for a walk, and then he has one. Bon told me in a dream connection that James's power is fire. Lona said someone with the power of fire will betray us. To take over people, you need to be next to someone first, then the person can go anywhere without you. We think James is the traitor. He was controlling Bon when he called the government agent people. That's all I know." I said looking at my hands.<br>"It's alright, Nicki. I've known, too. I talked to Bon a few times. Before he showed in person to you, he showed up to me. He voiced his suspicions. I already know everything. At first, I denied it and tried to find an excuse, but there isn't any." She said sadly.  
>"I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner."<br>"It's okay."  
>"Good, I guess. Tomorrow we have to, um, perform to the Creatures." I said.<br>"Yeah. I think I have a game plan for that." Good. She was back to normal.  
>"What is it?" I asked. I wanted to do something spectacular.<br>"Well, Pam is going to make a platform out of the ground under our feet to start. Lona will be in a tornado, so she will be floating ten feet in the air. I will be doing different things with water from a bottle I'll bring with me. You will be sending sparks into the air. Lona, then, will blow them towards me and Pam. I will wrap the fire up with water without extinguishing it. Pam will make a fiery earth ball and send it back to me. I will send my wrap to Lona. Lona will send it back to you and you will swallow it. The fiery earth ball will get wrapped in water and Lona will make it hover over the crowd. Then we explode it. Then we send balls of powers into the air to juggle them. My water will put out your fire and Pam's rock will absorb my water and Lona's wind will smooth out and dry the mud. And then, we descend from our platform by earth stairs." She said. That will take a ton of skill. And why do I have to swallow it? I asked her.  
>"Because," She said, "I don't know what else to do with it. It's made of your fire and a bit of water. Really, you're just swallowing water." Oh great. Once everyone was up, we practiced after eating breakfast which was a couple pieces of toast. The practice went well. I just needed to practice swallowing a bunch of water. Lona needed to practice getting high enough and staying there. Pam needed to practice her jerky movements. Val didn't need to practice anything, because she was good at all her stunts. We practiced all day. We would only think of what we had to do. <p>


	16. Chapter 16

We went to bed early to get some good rest. The next day I had to be waken up by Val so I didn't sleep in. When I sat up in bed I discovered another body under the covers. Ugh, Pete! I didn't care and I didn't wake him up either. Secretly I admitted to myself I was glad he was back but I wanted to deny it with all my heart. I just really hated him and loved him at the same time. The hate was my fire and his air. His air could blow me out or feed me. So I hate him and I depend on him, as well. Perfect match... Oh wait. I have to focus on today's performance. I had all my moves in my head. I perfected all of them yesterday. We went out to the main square where news is presented. I'm not going to say what happened because Val already described what happened in our talk yesterday. The other Creatures were cheering so I guess we put on a good show. We descended the fire/water/air/earth stairs and waited our judgment. Pam fixed the platform with a weird finger snap. The movement had to be jerky. I couldn't describe it. The crowd finally told us what our fate was. We were going to live and they would help us! We cheered with them and hugged each other. Mick and Pete came rushing out of the crowd. Mick kissed Pam. Pete picked me up and twirled me once. Then he kissed me. I was so relieved to be kissing him again. His kisses were like no one else's. Sweet, fiery, and just all around awesome. I hugged him really hard. He did the same. We were on good terms again.

I just realized I was playing Missing You from A Very Potter Musical by Starkid Productions. I did miss Pete. I could live without him but everyday I would think of him. Anyway to get away from the sappy, lovey-dovey junk I went with everyone. We went to a party. There was flashing lights and loud music. No solid lights like lamps or whatever. To the left was a dance floor and to the right was two Rockband stations and two Rockband 2 stations. I grabbed Val and Pam and Lona and ran over to a Rockband 2 station. I wanted to be singer. I was good but not great like Pam. We played Our Truth by Lacuna Coil. That was my favorite song on the original list since you can buy songs. Then I switched with Pam to be bass guitar. I was on hard. We rocked like that almost all night. We finally stopped and hit the dance floor. I don't dance but tonight I will, I thought. I jumped up and down like everyone else. Did the line dances which I usually did. Three slow dances came on. A lot of Creatures asked to dance but I only danced with Luke and Mick. Mick asked all of us to dance so that was okay. Luke didn't want to dance with me but I made him. I was looking for Pete when someone tapped me on the shoulder. It was Pete.  
>"May I have this dance?" He asked putting out his hand.<br>"Yes you may." I gladly took his hand. He put a hand on my hip and I put a hand on his shoulder. Our other hands were clasped gently in the air. I put my head on his chest and wrapped my arms around his neck. He wrapped his arms around my waist.  
>"I'm so sorry." He said. Clearly he was.<br>"I forgive you but do you forgive me?" I asked quietly but I could be heard over the music.  
>"Of course, kid." Haha jerk! I joked.<br>"Cool." I said. We danced through the song into another more upbeat song. He took my hand and spun me then we danced even though I hated it the whole time. We went back to the house together. I didn't know if Val or Lona or Pam or Mick went back but we did. We went to bed after I took a shower. I said he didn't have to sleep on the couch but he said he preferred it. I don't know if that was an insult but oh well. I dreamed of that night. It was so much fun to live it over again.

The next day we packed up and left. In secret I shared one last kiss with Luke. But other than that, it was a usual goodbye. We put everything in the trunk. We waved bye to Luke and I drove away. It was raining but not heavily. We went back to the airport. Onto the plane. We sat down for take off.  
>"That was a really fun place to be." Lona said sadly.<br>"Yeah very, very fun place." I said teasing Pete.  
>"We have to go back and visit sometime." Pam said.<br>"And have a party." Mick chipped in.  
>"It's like we're planning already." Pete said.<br>"You guys could go back in a year." Lona said.  
>"You?" Val and Pam asked simultaneously.<br>"Explain Nicki." Lona told me.  
>I sighed, "Lona will die either in Philadelphia or in the great battle back in Philadelphia." Everyone was shocked.<br>"You can't be... But Lona is... Oh my gosh." Val stuttered. She doesn't curse either.  
>"I'm sorry I kept it from you. You would be sad. Like now." Lona said quietly. "I've already dealt with the sadness of knowing I'm going to die. It was kind of easy as long as I can make you guys happy. But there is still one thing I want to do..." She said suspiciously.<br>"And what's that?" Pam asked.  
>"Well, I would like to learn how to skateboard." She said dreamily. That wasn't really Lona but okay.<br>"I thought you already knew how." I said. "You had lessons."  
>"Yeah well. I quit those because they didn't teach me anything. I went shopping after my parents dropped me off." That was the Lona we know and love. I couldn't help but laugh.<br>"I'll teach you in Philadelphia." I said. She said that was great.  
>We didn't know when she was going to die so I wanted to make her happy. Val and Pam can't or won't skateboard. I wasn't sure of the boys though. Once that was settled we talked about the night before and how great Pam's singing was and how awesome Val could play guitar on hard. They loved that I could go into Bass Groove and keep it there on hard. They also loved how fast Lona could hit the drum pads. They talked some more while I thought about things. We had 2,928 miles to go so it would take one day and 22 hours. What to do in that time? I don't care. Everything will be different without Lona. No more making me excited to go shopping. No more sleep overs with her. No more Rockband! Oh crud. I have to stop thinking about that. I told myself I wouldn't be sad until she actually died. Okay... Phew! How am I going to teach her to skateboard? No tricks because she would hurt herself. Just riding down the street. I guess she needs to learn how to stand on it first, then... My thoughts were like this. I couldn't think about her dying. I would break down. Val was never in control of her emotions. I wonder why she isn't crying right now? Well, I would like it to go back how everything started. Just me in my normal life with Cristy, Dok, Pop, and Fran. They were nicknames. Except for Cristy's and Fran's. They weren't really close friends with me but girls are like that when you only knew the person for only a year. Dok was the smart guy but was still funny and cool. He was the doctor out of all of us. Instead of Doc we use Dok. The 'k' represents his real name Kovart. His mom's different, but likeable. Weird, I know. Pop loves anything that pops or has pop in the name. Bubble wrap was his all-time favorite. Soda was his second. His real name was Joe but since there were other Joes we call him Pop. But they turned out bad. All of them stopped talking to me. It was the Creatures and Dok had a thing for me. Once he found out I was going out with a Creature he just ignored me but I saw him sneaking peaks at me over his notes in Health. He was an average guy. Not too good looking and not too bad looking. I was going to go out with him but I decided not to. I didn't want our friendship messed up. But it did get messed up anyway. It was awesome back then. Nothing to worry about... Just school work and thongs like that. But then this trip came. Thank goodness Pam was rich. It seems weird but in all stories about traveling, someone has to be rich. It's turned out for the better that she is, though. Lona wanted to help. She is always helping people. I couldn't deny her because she is too nice to me. Val had to come because we are sisters. We don't leave each other behind. I went because I had to do something. I can't sit and watch things happen without doing something to help. Only in a good way not a bad way. This journey turned out okay. But I know the worst is to come. I fell asleep listening to the drone of the engine.<p>

I woke up 10 hours later. Geez, it's going to be hard going back to school. Even if we have to take summer school. I was the only one awake. I really had to go to the bathroom. I went and came back. I needed to do something. I started playing solitaire with myself since it was only a one player game. Then I played War with myself. It was easy but the other me won. I thought a bit. Then I went to the car and got a book to read. Sieze the Night by Dean Koontz. It was a new book. I picked it up in Salem. I read the whole book in 9 hours with breaks. By then everyone was up. We played cards for 3 hours then I slept again. I woke up 12 hours later. I started walking around the inside of the plane. I discovered a radio. I took it back to our seats and cranked it up to max and played a station I loved. Everyone woke up. Pam yelled a bit, Val jumped up, Pete was still sleeping..., Mick jumped in his seat, and Lona just yelled at me after she fell out of her seat. I was cracking up. I got yelled at a lot but everyone relaxed once I turned the sound down. We listened to music, played cards, listened to music, read, and listened to music for 12 hours. We landed and thanked Pam's dad's friend. I drove us to Pam's house and we crashed there. It was night so we could sleep normally. Lona and Pam slept in Pam's room. Val and I slept in the living room. Mick and Pete slept in the attic. We had to go to Philly the next day. I couldn't sleep right away but did eventually. I called everyone to my dream room. That's what I decided to call the dream connection even though Val said it was just called dreaming. That's boring.

"Okay, guys. This is the plan. Tomorrow we teach Lona how to skateboard-"  
>"After we go shopping for the right clothes." Lona cut in. Ugh!<br>"Fine, we go shopping then teach her to skateboard. Then we gather all of the forces we need to help and we fight. The great battle will be in 2 days." I said.  
>"How will they arrive?" Pam asked.<br>"Well, if I'm right, they will get here by magic which we could have done ourselves but Redd didn't tell us that." Val was annoyed. I would be too if I wanted to know everything in the world but I thought it was a good experience.  
>"Chill, Val. You know you always wanted to travel the country." I said. She gave me a look. The Val look. It was a mix of hatred and knowing I was right.<br>"Still..." Val said. I looked at everyone else. Pam and Mick were talking to each other but Pete was listening to us.  
>"What?" I asked him.<br>"It's just that you two are like... You guys pretend to hate each other but then you know you love each other." He said a bit awed.  
>"What can you say?" Val started.<br>"We're sisters." I said. We did this a lot to everyone. Pete laughed a bit.  
>"Oh you guys. I love you. All of you." He said to Pam and Mick too.<br>"Well, we love each other. That was kinda already explained." I said. I don't like saying I love you to someone. I show them I love them, I don't need to tell them. It's kind of the same reason for saying goodbye. I hate it. Your not leaving them for good so why say it. I just wave but I do say goodbye to be polite to people I just met.  
>"Okay. So we know what we are going to do. I'm going to cut the dream connection." I thought I heard Val murmur dream under her breath but I didn't care. I cut the connection only for Lona.<p>

"Look guys, just because the prediction said that Lona would die doesn't mean that she could be the only one. You have to be careful on the battle field. I don't want to lose anyone."  
>"Don't worry, Nicki. We hear you. Good night." Val said. Val, Pam, and Mick left but Pete stayed.<br>"What's up?" I asked him.  
>"You. Always you, kid." He stepped closer to me. I put my arms around his neck.<br>"Always? What about you, Hun?" I pecked him on the nose.  
>"I don't mean anything important. But you, you are mine."<br>"I am yours." I finally said. He kissed me so fiercely that I was out of breath just five seconds after. I think maybe two years passed before we broke apart.  
>"Whoa... That was... something." I gasped.<br>"I thought... you'd... like it." He said smiling. His smile set something off in me. I looked at him. He probably saw what was in my face. We kissed. I ripped open his button up shirt. Buttons flew everywhere. Nice six pack, I thought. Not too defined but still there.  
>"We shouldn't." He said.<br>"I need you." I kissed him again.  
>"We can't."<br>"We can. It won't happen in real life." I took off my shirt. He slipped out of his pants.  
>"Just once." We were tangled in clothes. I imagined a king-sized bed. One appeared and he threw me down on it. I slipped out of my shorts and underwear. My bra was ripped off of me. ***<p>

I gave him one last kiss on the mouth that was filled with passion then I put my ear over his heart and we just laid there. I imagined that we were scrub clean and that cool blankets were on us. The blankets felt good.  
>"I love you." I said. I don't have trouble saying it to him.<br>"I love you, too." He said sleepily.  
>"I'll let you sleep now if you want."<br>"Please." I brushed my lips against his then cut the connection. I just slept afterward.

We woke up early and drove to Philadelphia. First we needed to buy clothes then we drive back home and go to the skate park. Lona took us everywhere while Pam bought everything even though I said I would buy my own things. She bought a black t-shirt with a gray zip up hoodie. Then gray skinny jeans and skater shoes. Of course, she had to buy glasses. She said we all should look like that but I don't like skinny jeans or to wear jeans in the spring almost summer (it's been that long). I picked out my usual tan khakis and a black shirt with a gray zip up hoodie. I already wore skater shoes and I like my own pair of glasses from the 80's.  
>Everyone else was, if not the same, similar to her. We went back to the car and drove back home. We went to a park and in the park was a skating park. I parked the car and we grabbed our stuff. Pam, Val, and Mick don't want to skateboard so they said they'd rollerblade. We put on helmets and I started Lona on lessons while everyone else skated. Four hours later, two broken nails, and eight bumps and bruises and scratches, Lona turned out really well. She couldn't do tricks but she could courageously take on the pool and not get hurt.<p>

At lunch we went out to eat. I kept thinking about last night... And what tomorrow will bring. I was so nervous. I couldn't think of what I would be doing. I would be carrying two handguns, two throwing knives, a wooden baseball bat, and my magic implements. It won't be fun at all. The last time we had to kill, I got sick. I didn't want that experience to happen again and yet it has to. I plan on only using magic because I could have a shield to deflect bullets and have an offensive spell to kill everyone with. I wonder what we will do with James once we catch him? Would we hold him prisoner or kill him on the spot. I had Butterflies in my stomach. That reminded me of Bon. What would happen to him. I totally implied that we could still be together. Crud.

"You okay, Nicki?" Val asked. I jumped.  
>"I was thinking."<br>"Yeah, I could see that. What about?"  
>"What we will do with James when we get him. And what will the government do?"<br>"We will kill James. That's the least we can do." Pam snarled.  
>"Oooh, chill. But yeah. That's what I want to do." Mick said.<br>"I think the government will put up attacks after this big one but will give in, in about 3 years." Pete said.  
>"Reasonable. Or if we lose they'll kill all of us which is expected. Those people wouldn't know remorse for our kind if it smacked them in the face." Val said.<br>"Lovely, Val. It does sound reasonable but what will they do? I mean the Creatures." I asked.  
>"Well, they, us, we, will go back to regular life." Lona said.<br>"But that's not what we've been fighting for. We fought for their freedom. Why can't they have it, Lona?" I asked.  
>"I can't see that far into the future. You have to make things fit."<br>"But that's like walking into a maze blind folded." I complained.  
>"Nice simile." Val said.<br>"Thanks."  
>"Well, I'm sorry but I can't help you there." Lona said holding up her hands, palms out in a surrender. We went to the skate park. Lona said she had to go to the bathroom and I said I'd go with her. We walked into the bathroom. It was a one stall so she could go and I could stand outside but still be in the room. It was also a public bathroom for women and men. She was silent on the way there. She was going to ask me to do something that she thought I wouldn't like or wouldn't usually do. I locked the door when we went in. Then I turned around so my back was to the door, walked a few paces up, and I asked her what was wrong.<br>"Well, there is one more thing that I really wanted to do and usually people don't do this but I was curious and I just wanted to know what would happen and how would it feel." She said really fast. She was nervous.  
>"Dude, calm down and tell me what you want."<br>"Will you promise to do what I want and not tell anyone else?" Ooooh, that's hard. It could be bad and I would regret it or it could be normal but she wouldn't be so nervous if it was normal. She's my friend and I do not want to hurt her.  
>"I promise." I said a little reluctantly.<br>"Okay, well, you know I've been with boys my whole life and I've dated them and kissed them and, in general, I know them pretty well but-"  
>I cut her off. "You want me to do something sexual?"<br>"No it's not that bad. Just a kiss."  
>"Not that bad? I have a boyfriend!" I almost shouted but I caught myself.<br>"You promised. Look I just wanted to know what it would be like to kiss a girl. How will it feel? I was curious. But please, Nicki."  
>Now, I have to admit I wondered the same thing but I wasn't planning on actually trying it. I did promise and I didn't want her upset with me. Peer pressure. Teachers always say never give in to it but these circumstances are different.<br>"Put your arms around my neck. I'll be the 'boy'." I told her. She did that and I put my hands around her waste. I closed my eyes and imagined she was Pete but shorter. Then we kissed. I'm straight, through and through and this act was for a friend who was going to die the next day. But I have to say, she was a good kisser. Then I though of I Kissed A Girl by Katy Perry. Weird but good song. This is a weird but good(?) moment. I moved my hands to her face and put them on her cheeks. This is really long, I thought.  
>Then something that was only in my worst nightmares happened- Pete turned the handle and came in. I thought I locked it? (Turns out that the lock was broken.) He saw us kissing. I shoved Lona gently away.<p>

"Pete, its not what-"  
>He cut me off, "It looks like. Right? That's just-just-" He couldn't think of any adjective to fit this moment.<br>"Don't tell anyone. Please." I said desperately.


	17. Chapter 17

**A/N: I'd like to think that was like a cliff hanger, but I'm not too good on the suspense and stuff like that.**

He shook his and left. I sat down on the little bench that was against the wall.  
>"I'm so sorry. I didn't mean for this to happen."<br>"It isn't your fault, Lona. You didn't know what would happen." I sighed. "I'll get him back later. You're a good kisser."  
>"Oh, thanks. So are you. Sweet but fierce." Lona said. I blushed. That's what I said about Pete. He learned from me or I learned from him.<br>"Let's go." We walked back to the park to get everyone else so we could find the hotel that was our rendezvous point for us. There were tons of them so we got put into one. I drove there. We met Resa there. It turns out she was going to be roomed with us. She said she will sleep in Val and Lona's room. Pam and Mick had their room and Pete and I had ours. I dragged Pete straight to our room and locked the door when we got in. He sat in a chair knowing I was about to go off on him. This time he was wrong, though. I straddled his lap and kissed him really fiercely. I cut my tongue on his teeth but I really didn't care right then.  
>"What are you doing? You just kissed Lona. Do you think I'm hot for you right now or something because I'm not." He said.<br>"She got me alone, she made me promise before hand, she used peer pressure because she is going to die, and I didn't want to upset her." I said ticking off fingers. "It was her idea, Pete. You know I love you."  
>"Why do I always barge in on you kissing someone else?" He asked trying to push me off his lap. I clamped my legs tighter against his. I wouldn't budge.<br>"Because you don't let me be alone with you. If you took me off like she did or like I did to Luke then we would be having those moments not them with me. Oh, and it also proves your more loyal than I am." I kissed him again. And again. And again. And again.  
>"That doesn't sound real promising."<br>"Then I promise to you that I will not kiss anyone else as intimately as I do you. That means I can give a quick kiss like I would to my mom." I added when I saw his look.  
>"I'll hold you up to that promise." He said. He picked me up and put me on the bed. He laid down next to me. He kissed along my jaw line from my ear to my chin to my lips. He ran a hand down my leg and he hooked my leg around his legs. I pulled him closer. We stayed cuddled together like that for a long time. Maybe an hour, I didn't know because I fell asleep. He did before me. He looked peaceful in his sleep. When I woke up he was right where I left him. He was watching me again.<br>"That's so creepy."  
>"You look good." That was his excuse. He kissed me. When he did, he invaded my mouth with his tongue. I usually did that to him not him to me.<br>"You always say I look good." I yawned.  
>"Then you look great."<br>"Lovely."  
>"Oh, nice one. You look lovely."<br>"Jerk."  
>"You look like jerky? You might taste good..." He looked me up and down and nibbled on my ear.<br>"Right." I said. "Just don't eat me."  
>"I might." He said. Something I forgot was coming back to me. It was on the tip of my tongue. It had something to do with eating and me...<br>"Gloria!" I yelled out sitting up in bed.  
>"Um, what?" Pete asked.<br>"I totally forgot Gloria, my best friend." I got out of bed and ran to the door. I yanked it open and ran down the hall to Val's room. I knocked really loudly. Val opened the door.  
>"Gloria. We forgot Gloria!" I said in her face. Her expression changed from annoyance to shock.<br>"Gloria? Where is she? We have to find her." Val said excitedly. "She will be fighting, right?" We walked downstairs so we could check with the clerk where she was staying. He said room 267. They have a lot of rooms. We took the elevator to the third floor and sprinted down the hall to her room. I knocked loudly on her door. She opened it and I pounced on her.  
>"Gloria!"<br>"Nicki! Val! I haven't seen you guys." She hugged me and Val.  
>"I can't believe it. Where have you been?" Val asked.<br>"In hiding in Canada. I had to go to the mountains because my hunger for humans has been getting to me." She said. I took a closer look at her. She had grown 5 inches.  
>"Your grown up! Oh it's been too long." I said. "You are sleeping with us." I grabbed her hand.<br>"But my things!"  
>"Magic. Val could you...?" I asked. Val nodded. She would make them appear in my room and go tell the clerk that the room was empty. We took our time getting to the elevator and going back to our room. The boys would sleep together. Pam, Gloria, and I will sleep together. We told the boys. Gloria just met Pete and Mick. But she was friends with Pam and Lona. Pam freaked out and Lona was ecstatic. Pam was crying. Once we all settled down we discussed battle plans. I would be carrying two handguns, two throwing knives and magic things. They said no to my baseball bat. I was sad. They were discussing there weapons when something hit me.<br>"I know what we can do to James!"  
>"What?" Pam asked. Lona was smiling already.<br>"Gloria can eat him." I said triumphantly.  
>"I'm sorry, Gloria, but that's just disgusting." Val said.<br>"It's okay." Gloria was used to that.  
>"No! How is Gloria's hunger ever going to go away? She needs to eat a human or at least kill one. One human we all don't want around: James. I'm sorry if you still have hope for him Val but he has to die sometime." I said seriously.<br>"How dare you shove it off on me like that! I have no hope for him. I don't care anymore. Kill him if you want to." Val stood up and left. I put my face in my hands. Pete put an arm around me but I shrugged it off.

Later at night when I was sleeping, I felt my subconscious being pulled into a dream connection. I was in my bedroom back home and Val was there. Usually I didn't add a background, it was white, but I think this made her more comfortable.  
>"Hey." I said inviting her to speak first.<br>"Hey I'm sorry I snapped at you earlier. It still a hard topic to talk about. I wish he never changed. He was the best person ever. But I'm sorry."  
>"It's all right."<br>"I just had to say that before what will happen tomorrow. Good night."  
>"Night." I said. She cut it but I felt myself being pulled into another dream connection. It was Pete's.<p>

"There. I pulled you away from everyone else." He said.  
>"Yes you did." I looked around. His background was his home in Florida.<br>"Now what do you want to do?" He asked coming toward me.  
>"I don't know." I smiled at him. He picked me up and put me over his shoulder.<br>"Hey!" I said in surprise. He slapped my butt. Then we got to his bedroom down the hall and he flopped me on the bed. He kissed me but left the room. I looked around. I hadn't been in his room before. There was a 36 inch flat screen TV in here. Movie! He came back in with popcorn and a bottle of something. Wine? But we are underage. I told him this.  
>"It's not happening in real life." He said. I smiled again.<br>"Here are the rules. We will be watching a romantic comedy. Laugh as loud as you want. Drink as much as you want. Eat as much as you want. And that's it." He said laying down with me. He kissed me. I slithered my tongue into his mouth to make the kiss deeper.  
>"Okay." I said a bit confused as to why he was doing this. He handed me a glass of wine and turned on the movie. The movie was two hours long. Let me tell you it was a long night.<br>At the end of the movie, we just sat there, awkwardly.  
>"I hope you are careful." He said.<br>"I'm always careful, but for you, I'll be extra." I said. I wanted to get this over with. I thought he'd say more but he didn't. He kissed me and I kissed back.  
>"Good night, Nicki." He said.<br>"See you tomorrow." I left the dream connection.

Everyone had to wake up early and get a good breakfast so we would be prepared for whatever came at us. I wore my favorite shirt and shorts. My hair was up in a bun so that it wouldn't get in the way. I put on two shoulder gun holsters for my handguns. I was wearing contacts instead of glasses. In my belt there were two secret pockets so I could get my throwing knives easily but still have them unnoticed. I had the basic magic implements that any witch or wizard would use: staff and a mind full of spells (Resa's concept). Lona and Gloria would be sticking with me the whole time so I could watch them. Pam and Mick were together and Val and Pete went by themselves. I was worried about Val but they she said she could handle herself and I trusted her. We walked to a place where we were supposed to gather. The fight was to take place in the city streets. Unbelievable but so true. We would fit in almost five streets. There were a lot of us. It seemed time was going really slowly. When a horn blew we ran into battle. Well I was in the back so I walked into battle with Lona on my right and Gloria on my left. Pete was up in front and Val disappeared. There was a ton of noise from the gun fire and the people yelling battle cries and things like that. Then we got into the battle ourselves. I was throwing spells this way and that way. Time was quicker now. Lona always knew the time so anytime I asked she would tell me it. 10 a.m., 1 p.m., 3:30 p.m. Half of our numbers were dead or wounded. Three quarters of theirs were dead or wounded. But I was still going. I wasn't done. I ignored what it would cost me afterward. I would lose the feeling of being not guilty. Then what I was waiting for happened.

A gunshot went off to the right of me. I immediately thought of Lona. It was Resa instead. She shot a guy who was going to shoot Lona.  
>"Resa! Thank you!" I said. My words were drowned out by another gunshot. I looked at Lona. Her hands were on her stomach and she was really pale. I ran over to her. Blood was flowing through her fingers from her stomach. I caught her before she could fall down. I laid her down, her head on my lap.<br>"Ssshh. Lona dear. We love you. Pam, Mick, Pete, Resa, Gloria, Val, and I love you."  
>"I l-love you, t-t-t-o-o." She let out her final breath. I got up and put a spell on her. It would save her body until I needed it for a funeral. I looked around. The person who shot her was looking at me. I gave him my worst face ever and he ran. I ran after him. I should have been tired but I had a reason to fight this guy. He killed my friend. I caught up to him and jumped on him. He fell to the ground with me on him. I knocked his gun out of his hand. I started banging his head on the ground, magic forgotten. I heard a sickening crack and squish but I kept going. Bang. Bang. Bang. Someone behind me started talking.<br>"That's right, Nicki. Let your hate fill you up." It was James. I stopped. I wouldn't follow him. I turned around. It was really James. He was wearing a traveling cloak and had a staff in one hand. I sent a silent spell at him. He countered it and it sent me sprawling backwards. I got up. I had to kill him.  
>"I will never let hatred fill me up. I'm not like you, James. Your pathetic and weak. I'm stronger." I said in a very dark voice.<p>

"You already let your feelings go, I'm afraid." He motioned to the guy on the ground. I sent three spells at him. The first two he deflected but the third hit him. He went flying back this time. We started sending spells to each other. Gloria was sneaking behind a building so she could attack him from behind. I really wanted to distract him so he wouldn't know she was there. I put a lot of effort into my power. I knew I was winning a bit. Most of my spells hit while his didn't. Then it turned around. I felt really tired and I could just barely get out of the way of his spells. One hit me and tossed me into a metal poll. I sat on my butt hard. I couldn't beat him.  
>But you have to.<br>I can't move.  
>Yes you can. One more attack.<br>No just sleep.  
>This battle was going on inside me while he was walking up to me.<br>"Well, this is how it ends. Nicki can't fight anymore. Poor girl. What will happen to your sister. I think I might go after her and keep her as a pet. Just like the government is my pet. One spell and they trust me. Another spell and they do whatever I want."  
>"Like.. I said. Pathetic." I gasped. I think I broke a rib.<br>"But look who's pathetic now. Can't even face our opponent eye to eye." He meant I couldn't stand.  
>"You're done."<br>"Oh really? Who's going to kill me." He laughed loudly. I waited until he stopped.  
>"Gloria." I said. She came running out from behind a building. She was really fast.<br>"Who-?" Was all James had time to say. Gloria bit his neck and snapped it. Oh geez, I thought, gross. That was all she needed to do to become a werewolf. She helped me up and hugged me. I couldn't cry just yet. I had to find Val and the others. I fixed my rib with a spell that made me scream my head off and made Gloria cover her ears. We started jogging through the streets, jumping over bodies, and looking all around. We found Resa first. She was okay. She came with us. Next we found Pam and Mick. Pam was okay but Mick had a broken leg. I fixed it. They said they saw Pete two blocks down. We went that way. Instead of Pete, we found Val. I hugged her so hard I thought I might crack my rib again. We split up. In fifteen minutes we said we would meet back at our hotel.

I was running everywhere even though I was tired. I had a new reason: I had to find Pete. I knew I was going to find him. It just seemed right. I checked the hospitals and Creature camps. He wasn't anywhere. Twenty minutes later I went back to the hotel with the worst spirits and a feeling of dread. What if he was dead? What would I do? I didn't speak to anyone. I just went straight to get a shower then to bed. I looked down at my hands. Red: my favorite color. I thought I was going to throw up but I just got so annoyed at the thought of having to throw up again that it went away. I laid down in bed. I started crying. I sobbed and sobbed. I eventually fell asleep. 


	18. Chapter 18

**A/N: I know this is really short, but it's the second to last chapter. The Epilogue comes next.**

The next day wasn't eventful. We didn't find Pete. A whole week went by. No Pete. I cried every night. On Monday, we went back to our houses. Pam said Mick would be welcomed to stay with her. He accepted. Val, Resa, and I went back to our house. Resa was going to stay with us for awhile. We were getting ready for bed when I started thinking. It looked like what we did saved Creatures lives. The Ocean was full of Water World people defending the waters. All the land people were fighting. The air people were up in the air... Wait, the air! He was in the air! I hopped in bed and fell asleep. I tried to make a dream connection. Why hadn't I thought of this before? It worked.  
>"Pete!" I hugged him.<br>"Nicki? Where are you?" He asked.  
>"Back at my house."<br>"I thought you were dead."  
>"I thought YOU were dead. You didn't show up at our hotel. I couldn't find you in the streets." I said looking at him with severe eyes.<br>"I got captured, actually. But I escaped. I was headed toward somewhere but I wasn't sure where exactly somewhere was."  
>"Where are you now?" I asked concerned.<br>"In a park. It was dark so I couldn't really tell but I think it might be your park."  
>"I'm coming to get you. Stay there." I said. I cut the connection and woke up. I told everyone to get dressed again. They did quickly because they saw I was on a role. We got into the car and I sped down the streets trying to get there as fast as I could. I slammed on the brakes when we got to the parking lot and flung open my door and ran to Pete. He was there sitting on a bench looking dreadful with bags under his eyes. I hugged him and cried. He hugged me and repeated my name lovingly. Val and Resa stayed in the car out of respect. It took a good ten minutes for me to calm down. We went back to the car. Val and Resa were sleeping in the back seat. I drove slowly to our house so I could spend time with Pete and not wake them up.<br>"I hate you so much." I whispered to Pete.  
>"I hate you, too."<br>"I had to face James. He was pathetic."  
>"I hope he didn't hurt you." Pete said.<br>"No he didn't." I said. I didn't want to go into detail of the things he said that did hurt me.  
>"I'll have to check on that tonight, then." How could he think of that now?<br>"Get a room." Val mumbled in the back. I just started laughing. I was so happy. I laughed and laughed. Pete joined in. It was silent laughter but it was relieving. We got home. I carried Val in and Pete carried Resa inside so they could sleep. We went to the guest room to get privacy and because Resa was in my bed.  
>"Are you sure you are all right?" Pete asked again.<br>"I'm as fine as you are, Hun." I said getting into bed. I was tired and excited and happy.  
>"Good." He said. He got in too. He spooned my body against his. My back to his chest. He laid an arm over my waist.<br>"Good night."  
>"'Night."<br>"Hatechyou." I slurred.  
>"Love you." He whispered. I fell asleep. <p>


	19. Chapter 19

EPILOGUE:

I was asleep before two squeaky voices woke me up.  
>"Momma! Izzy took Delphin." Delphin was his stuffed dolphin.<br>"I did not! Danny took Robin!" Robin was a stuffed robin. I groaned.  
>"Izzy give your brother his dolphin back. Danny give your sister her bird back." They happily ran out of the room after they switched. I groaned again. It was a Saturday. I wanted to sleep in but when you have five year old twins you get nothing you want. Izzy was my little daughter through and through. A mommy's girl. Danny was my little son through and through. A mommy's boy. They loved their daddy equally but I made sure they loved me more. Speak of the devil and he shall appear. Pete walked into the room.<br>"Good morning, honey." He kissed me.  
>"Good morning."<br>"I tried to keep them downstairs but they wouldn't stay for long. See." They ran back upstairs.  
>"Daddy! Danny is in your stuff again." Izzy told Pete. Pete gave me the I-told-you look and left to get Danny. Izzy looked more like her father. She had brown hair and chocolate brown eyes. Danny was like me. Blonde hair and extremely pale, blue eyes. Sometimes I couldn't believe they were twins but they stood so close to each other. You could never separate them.<p>

I got out of bed and got dressed. We were having Aunt Val and Aunt Resa over for lunch and dinner. Val and Resa decided to go and keep up the rebellion after that day. They were close friends. Gloria was traveling everywhere so she could find a place she would like to stay. She hasn't found one yet but she enjoys being on the move. I think that's her home. Pam and Mick got married like Pete and I. They lived right next door to us. It was awesome. They were coming over, too. They had one daughter. Her name was Lona.

After the battle it took three years to make the government pass a law declaring the Creatures were as free as anyone. That last battle meant everything to save the Creatures. It saved us, too. Well, I'm thankful everything happened. I wouldn't know happiness like this. It's peaceful.

The End.

**A/N: So…that's it. Thank you to any of those who read this. I know it isn't the best thing in the world. I wrote it in 7th/8th grade. I hope you enjoyed it. :)**

** Also, check out my other stories. They're just alternative endings to Poe stories. They were written for my English class.**


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